Medical Receptionist inDurham inDurham PUBLISHED MON 2 DEC 2024

Our reception teams are at the heart of everything we do, navigating patients to the most appropriate member of our team as quickly as they can.

Using practice policies and protocols to respond to patient and partner organisation queries effectively and efficiently to ensure we provide the best care possible.

• Ensure an effective and efficient reception service is provided to patients and any other visitors to the practice
• Care Navigation - Signpost patients to the most appropriate service (internally or externally)
• Deal with all general enquiries, explain procedures and make new and follow-up appointments
• Using your own judgment and communication skills ensure that patients with no prior appointment but who need urgent consultation are seen in a logical and non-disruptive manner
• Explain practice arrangements and formal requirements to new patients and those seeking temporary cover and ensure procedures are completed
• Enter requests for home visits onto the computer system, ensuring careful recording of all relevant details and where necessary refer to Duty Doctor (as per visit protocol)
• Chaperone patients as and when required
• Action medication queries / repeat prescription / online repeat prescription requests / EPS cancellation requests / EPS Tracker
• Liaise with patients and pharmacies to resolve issues with medication
• Ensure all incoming and outgoing tasks are actioned appropriately and in a timely manner.

About us

JOB TITLE: Medical Receptionist

REPORTS TO: Team Lead at site

HOURS: up to 37.5 hours per week - Job share considered

BASE: Framwellgate Moor, Bearpark and across the practice when required

Job Summary

Receive, assist and direct patients in accessing the appropriate service or healthcare professional in a courteous, efficient and effective way.

Provide general assistance to the practice team and project a positive and friendly image to patients and other visitors, either in person or via the telephone.

Job Responsibilities

• Maintaining and monitoring the practice appointment system
• To ensure an effective and efficient reception service is provided to patients and any other visitors to the practice
• Answer incoming phone calls, transferring calls or dealing with the callers request appropriately, taking messages to pass onto the appropriate person (as per practice protocol).
• Care Navigation - Signpost patients to the most appropriate service (internally or externally)
• Deal with all general enquiries, explain procedures and make new and follow-up appointments
• Using your own judgment and communication skills ensure that patients with no prior appointment but who need urgent consultation are seen in a logical and non-disruptive manner
• Explain practice arrangements and formal requirements to new patients and those seeking temporary cover and ensure procedures are completed
• Enter requests for home visits onto the computer system, ensuring careful recording of all relevant details and where necessary refer to Duty Doctor (as per visit protocol)
• Chaperone patients as and when required
• Action medication queries / repeat prescription / online repeat prescription requests / EPS cancellation requests / EPS Tracker
• Liaise with patients and pharmacies to resolve issues with medication
• Ensure all incoming and outgoing tasks are actioned appropriately and in a timely manner; GP2GP transfers / appointment cancellation updates / PDS updates / new patient address / pathology / online service requests / letter to action / tasks from clinical staff.
• Understanding and fully utilising SystmOne
• Advise patients of relevant charges for private (non General Medical Services) services, accept payment and issue receipts
• Input data into the patients healthcare records as necessary
• Maintain a clean, tidy, effective working area at all times
• Monitor and maintain the reception area and notice boards
• Support all clinical staff with general tasks as requested
• Ensure correspondence, reports, results etc are scanned / filed promptly and in the correct records, ensuring that all recent correspondence is available when patients are seen

• Ensure that all new patients are registered onto the computer system promptly and accurately
• Make refreshments where necessary, ensure the kitchen is kept clean in turn with other staff
• To provide general support to the doctors, management team and health professionals involving word processing with general clerical work
• Input patient data ensuring correct Read/SNOMED codes are used
• To receive incoming and initiate outgoing telephone calls in order to facilitate timely and appropriate communications with others, taking messages and dealing with appropriate queries.
• To maintain the computer clinic system in an accurate and secure manner
• To assist with the gathering of statistics and information when required
• You will be required to cover for members of the reception/secretarial team during periods of sickness and annual leave, across all of the sites in order to maintain operation efficiency.
• Maintain adequate supplies of office stationery in order to perform your duties
• Any other duties deemed reasonable by the Partners/Practice Management Team.

Premises

Open up the reception/admin areas at the start of the day when first to arrive and make all necessary preparations to receive patients

When last to leave at the end of the day, ensure that the reception area is totally secured, telephone system is switched over to the Out of Hours Service

Ensure all confidential information / prescriptions are locked away

• Undertake any other additional duties appropriate to the post as requested by the Partners/Practice Management Team.

Confidentiality

• In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately
• In the performance of the duties outlined in this Job Description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
• Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data.

Health & Safety

-The postholder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the practice Health & Safety Policy and in line with current legislation, to include

• Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks
• Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills
• Maintain work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards
• Report potential risks identified

Equality and Diversity

The postholder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues in line with Practice policies and procedures and current legislation.

Information Governance

The practice is committed to improving the way it manages information. Information Governance pulls together a variety of initiatives relating to how NHS agencies use information and aims to improve the security, confidentiality, quality and accessibility of this information.

It is essential that you have an understanding of these initiatives and are aware of your responsibilities in managing information on a day to day basis. A number of policies have been developed detailing staff obligations in relation to these areas, in particular around IT Security, Records Management and Freedom of Information. It is a condition of your employment that you act in accordance with these policies and participate in training offered by the practice in relation to these.

All papers and files are the property of the Practice and remain so irrespective of origin or authorship.

Personal & Professional Development

The postholder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice as part of this employment, such training to include attendance at any courses and/or study days to ensure that professional development requirements for growth are met. The postholder will participate in any training programme/performance review process implemented by the practice as part of this employment.

Corporate

Important note

This job description reflects the duties we currently anticipate the post holder undertaking. However, due to the nature of the role this may change over time. You will be expected to undertake tasks/duties required to maintain the efficient running of the practice which may not be detailed on this job description but which are commensurate with your grade and within your capabilities. Any permanent changes to this job description will be made following consultation with the postholder.

Quality

The postholder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:

• Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk, in particular Teamnet and Safeguard Incident & Risk Management System (SIRMS)
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources
• Ensure self and team carry out all mandatory training (CPR, Safeguarding, Information Governance, etc)

Communication:

The postholder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

• Communicate effectively with other team members
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers
• Communicate effectively with other partner agencies including but not limited to, Community Staff, Practice and community pharmacists, Nursing Homes and other third sector partners.
• Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly as per Accessible Information Standards.
• Contribution to the implementation of services:

The postholder will

• Apply practice policies, standards and guidance
• Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work
• Participate in audit where appropriate
• Develop protocols to support business change