Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1.          Communication and relationship skills

• Deal effectively with internal and external enquiries demonstrating excellent communication and customer care.
• Provide and receive routine information either verbally or written, requiring tact or persuasive skills in order to overcome barriers to understanding.
• Deal with potentially complex, sensitive or confidential enquiries from patients, staff and the public.

2.          Knowledge, training and experience

• GCSE / O Levels or some experience of office procedures / customer care.
• NVQ 2 in Business Administration / Customer Care or equivalent.
• RSA 2 or equivalent.
• ECDL or equivalent knowledge of IT applications.

3.          Analytical and judgement skills

• Make judgements involving facts / situations sometimes requiring analysis of information.
• Prioritise workload and make appropriate level decisions such as when to escalate and ensure this is done in a timely manner, e.g. telephone messages from staff / patients.

4.          Planning and organisational skills

• Organise and prioritise own day to day work, tasks or activities.
• Schedule meetings.
• Work flexibly to maintain cover within the service / organisation.
• Produce and maintain effective systems to ensure the service operates efficiently, e.g. planning appointments, time management, patient transport.

5.          Physical skills

• · Keyboard skills for regular use of computer systems.

  · Use of various office equipment e.g. transcription equipment, mobile devices.

6.          Responsibility for patient / client care

• Provide non clinical advice and information to patients, carers, relatives or staff either face to face, over the telephone or by other means.
• Consistently treats others with courtesy and respect

7.          Responsibility for policy and service development implementation

• Responsible for ensuring that organisational policies and procedures (including amendments and updates) are adhered to and implemented in own area of work.

8.          Responsibilities for financial and physical resources

• Manage stock / office stationery.
• Maybe required to handle petty cash and patient valuables.
• Maybe required to issue / take responsibility for equipment used by self and others.

9.          Responsibilities for human resources (HR)

• Act as a buddy demonstrating own area of work to new or less experienced employees such as apprentices or volunteers.

10.       Responsibilities for information resources

• Accurately enter data / process information utilising appropriate IT systems.
• Transcribing / copy typing information provided by others.
• Occasional note taking may be required.
• Management of information either electronic or paper based.

11.       Responsibilities for research and development (R&D)

• Will be required to undertake surveys and audits when requested in own area of work.

12.       Freedom to act

• Plan and organise own workload without direct supervision, reporting regularly to the line manager on key tasks and guided by defined policies and procedures.

13.       Physical effort

• Standing / walking for substantial periods
• Standing / sitting with limited scope for movement for long periods
• Making repetitive movements
• Inputting at a keyboard
• Kneeling, crouching, twisting, bending or stretching
• Pushing / pulling trolleys or similar

14.       Mental effort

• Check documents
• Carry out calculations
• Attend meetings 

15.       Emotional effort (refer to effort factor questionnaire)

•  Providing a service for distressed/angry patients/clients
• Dealing with difficult situations/ circumstances
• Dealing with people with challenging behaviour

16.       Working conditions 

• Use of VDU continuously 
• Unpleasant smells/odours