Key responsibilities include promoting excellent public relations, maintaining activity records, ensuring staff training, and managing health and safety compliance. The successful candidate will demonstrate strong leadership, organisational skills, and a commitment to fostering a positive working environment while adhering to Trust policies and procedures. Flexibility in working hours across the week is essential to support the continuous operation of the Switchboard department.
The postholder will be responsible for the provision of day-to-day operations and services provided by the Switchboard Operators and ensuring an effective service to Trust internal and external users. The postholder will be required to undertake the full range of supervisor tasks including the management of staff, monitoring of activity and allocation of daily working duties as well as other appropriate tasks associated with the service or as requested by the Senior Switchboard Supervisor and Contract Services Manager.
The Trust is looking to appoint a new Switchboard Team Leader at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary working to support the Senior Supervisor and Contract Services Manager.
The role primarily will be to work as a working team leader to supervise the team of operators of a comprehensive, extremely busy & confidential telephone service supporting the daily activity of the Hospital Trust.
Experience of being a forward-thinking individual and willingness to address change management issues & improve service efficiency is essential. Supportive, innovative and able to inspire the team is a must and experience of working on a busy switchboard and ensuring a high-quality response to incoming calls from external and internal sources is essential. Experience of monitoring & addressing alarm signals, using bleep systems and liaison with various depts. is also valuable but not essential as full training will be given. Experience of creating staff rotas for the 24-7 service is essential & working with E Rostering is desirable as we move our essential service into an up-to-date functioning support service.
Working with a flexible approach to aid as required in the busy Switchboard Dept to ensure a continuous service for our patients and staff. The postholder will also be expected to take part in the On Call rotation.
Working hours to be varied over Monday to Sunday as per the needs of the service across the working rotas as and when required.
About us
Key results from the job holder
- Promote within and on behalf of Switchboard dept, excellent public relations with patients, visitors and staff as well as members of the public.
- Provide advice to Service users to ensure that they obtain the maximum support from the service and respond to complaints and all enquiries relating to the provision of Switchboard Dept.
- Co-ordinate and maintain all activity records and fulfil routine clerical duties.
Planning and Organisational Duties
- Organise and plan own work routine.
- Liaison with relevant suppliers of communication equipment for maintenance purposes.
- Responsible for ensuring a safe working environment is always maintained.
- Act as a reception point for operational problems and decide whether such need to be escalated to the Senior Services Supervisor.
- Assist with the testing of fall-back equipment (radios) and associated procedures.
- Ensure the Switchboard directories are up to date.
- Provide advice and guidance on the specialised procedures, Major Incident, Cardiac Arrest, Fire Alarms, General Alarms, Bomb Scares, Terrorist Warnings.
- Maintain and monitor all on-site bleeps and keep an up-to-date register of all holders.
- Plan cover for periods of annual leave and keep records of same for staff.
- Arrange cover for periods of sickness absence and keep records of same, ensuring that the Attendance Management procedures are adhered to including Return to Work Interviews and any actions arising from same.
- Train new and existing staff in the safe use of equipment and operation of procedures and systems and record such training on their personal files.
- Promote a health and safety conscious environment including the promotion of a safe workplace, updating Risk Assessments as necessary.
- Participate in a formal 1 in 3 On Call Rota.
- To produce rotas for medical and non-medical staff on a daily basis. To be familiar with the process of condensing such rotas. To be responsible for the tracking down of missing rotas required at the end/beginning of each month. To correct and amend rotas as and when necessary, to provide an efficient on call service to all who require it.
- To take an active role in the major Doctors changeover days. These major changes occur twice a year, August and February, with minor departmental changeovers in between, approximately every 2-3 months. Changeover days involved being responsible for all aspects of issuing bleeps (eg ensuring adequate bleeps are available), board amendments and file changes covering the arrival and departure of doctors, issuing and receiving returned bleeps, receiving new doctors home telephone numbers.
Communications and Key Working Relationships
Support Senior Switchboard Supervisor in responding to patient/staff/service user complaints/queries and respond through both written and verbal communication channels to ensure issues are resolved in a timely, professional and factual manner.
Regularly liaise with staff across all wards and modalities and at all levels to ensure efficient service continuity.
Maintain effective written and verbal communications as and when required.
Ensure all staff respect the dignity of patients, visitors and other staff and recognise and respond appropriately to any ethnic or cultural issues.
Ensure staff receive relevant support through Change Management processes where required.
Liaise with external partners and internal stakeholders in respect of service.
Responsibility for Finance
- Take appropriate actions as instructed to ensure the achievement of a balanced budget.
- Record and obtain cost codes for the purposes of recharging depts. for extra bleeps etc.
- Authorised signatory for SVL, ESR documents in dept.
- Take responsible action in the use of resources within the Dept.
- Obtain quotes for sundry equipment and purchase of same within budget allocation.
- Liaise with Senior Supervisor in respect of staffing spending when organising overtime cover.
- Use of Oracle system for raising orders.
Responsibility for Human Resources
- Ensure consistent application of HR policies and procedures.
- Maintain staff attendance and holiday records performing Return to Work interviews where necessary and escalating any areas of concern to the Senior Switchboard Supervisor.
- Undertake staff absence interviews as necessary with HR representatives up to and including First Letter of Concern.
- First line of contact over disciplinary, grievance procedures.
- Implement rotas and allocate duties to staff to cover all departmental duties.
- Ensure that staff can participate in an annual Trust PDR review and have an agreed Personal Development Plan.
- Ensure that all staff respect the dignity of patients, visitors and all staff in line with HR policies and that they respond appropriately to any ethnic or cultural issues.
- Ensure that Staff E Learning is up to date.
- Check individual staff time sheets, process as per departmental recording and monitoring and ensure that they are processed onto the SVL sheets in a timely manner.
- Responsible for the welfare of staff under their responsibility.
- Participate as a panel member when required in the recruitment and selection of staff in line with current policies and procedures.
- Cascade information to staff as appropriate, i.e. Notices, Global information etc.
Responsibility for Information Resource
- Ensure compliance with the Trust Security arrangements for the control of keys for specific areas of the Trust, ensuring all staff follow Emergency access protocols when auctioning Emergency alarms / 2222.
- Ensure staff adopt and apply all agreed security measures relating to staff, material stocks and premises.
- Ensure timely completion of time sheets and SVL, recording hours utilised against budget.
- Maintaining the Switchboard Directories, ensuring it is current and communicated correctly daily.
- Use of the Oracle System for raising orders.
- Obtaining quotations for sundry equipment and purchasing within budget allocation.
- Input information into the computer systems as requested.
- Provision of IT information to other depts. as requested, including Call Reports etc with due regard to all GDPR and Information Governance regulations
- Ensure staff can carry out their duties in a manner that does not put them or others at risk.
Responsibility for Health & Safety
- Ensure staff can carry out their duties in a manner that does not put them or others at risk.
- Ensure training programmes are robust and carried out at regular statutory intervals.
- Ensure up to date Safety and Emergency Fire Evacuation information is posted in the dept.
- Ensure up to date Emergency Fire Evacuation is available and all staff are aware of all Emergency procedures.
- Ensure up to date Risk Assessments are maintained for the dept.
Responsibility for NHSLA
- Maintain all records and documentation in accordance with Trust and departmental policy.
- Undertake Service Audits and take appropriate action.
Responsibility for Teaching
Participate in the development and performance of training programmes to meet the needs of staff and the services provided including the monitoring and maintenance of compliance levels of e-mandatory training.
Ensure an ongoing plan is in place for training of all Emergency procedures around the Trust that present into the Switchboard
Work Circumstances and On Call
Flexible to provide cover and support on various shifts
- Participate in 1 in 3 On call rota and co-ordinate the Team Leader on call rota.
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