Patient Services Lead inLondon inLondon PUBLISHED TUE 5 NOV 2024

We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and caring individual for the post of Patient Services Lead. Their focus is on the patient experience, including their welcome at reception, the waiting room environment, access to appointments and services, and the overall care and consideration shown by the reception team. The role will have wide ranging responsibilities and fundamental to this is the requirement to continually assess their need to develop and improve front of house systems and support to provide an excellent service to patients, whilst managing patient expectations at the same time.

The postholder will be responsible for managing and supervising the reception team and reception areas of the practice, acting in a professional, accountable and caring manner to patients and staff at all times. You will work closely with the Practice Manager and deputy leads / managers to provide management and support to the reception and administrative staff in the practice.

About us

The focus for the Reception Team Lead is on the patient experience, including their welcome at reception, the waiting room environment, access to appointments and services, and the overall care and consideration shown by the reception team. The role will have wide ranging responsibilities and fundamental to this is the requirement to continually assess their need to develop and improve front of house systems and support to provide an excellent service to patients, whilst managing patient expectations at the same time.The postholder will be responsible for managing and supervising the reception team and reception areas at both surgeries of the practice, acting in a professional, accountable and caring manner to patients and staff at all times. You will work closely with the Practice Manager and deputy leads / managers to provide management and support to the reception and administrative staff in the practice.

Responsible for the smooth running of the reception and administration function; improving systems and processes and leading the team to improve access and the patient experience. Supporting staff to manage patient expectations according to the practice resources that are available.

Manage the front of house operations of the practice to ensure smooth, efficient operation of the practice including reception, oversight of room availability, general administration, patient care and services.

Ensure the waiting rooms/public areas are clean and well-presented, and that notice boards are up to date, music is playing, and queues are dealt with.

Responsible for general office management of the back office at both surgeries, ensuring that reception office areas are tidy, well organised and well stocked.

Oversee and manage any on the day changes to the rota systems for patient appointments to ensure cover and resilience at all times.

Day to day support to receptionists and administrators when managing difficult patient interactions.

Manage the development and transformation of the receptionist role to enable them to deliver a high standard of customer service.

Support the practice to meet all access to appointment standards together with developing and implementing systems and processes to achieve higher than the standard access requirements and provide exemplar access for patients.

Supporting the reception team to facilitate access to patient services by ensuring prompt telephone answering, and signposting to most appropriate service or clinician.

Monitor daily, weekly and forward appointment availability, flagging up any concerns or shortfalls as appropriate. Supported by the management team and Partners.

If/when online triage system is implemented, be part of the onboarding and implementation team. Assist in designing and understanding the system, and subsequent training of reception and other team members as appropriate to understand the system, and utilise it to its best effect to optimise use of available clinician resources. With support from management team and Partners.

Assist with and offer advice on templates and Read Codes, ensuring reception staff are kept up to date.

Manage all administrative functions within EMIS, AccuRX and other IT systems at the practice relevant to reception, ensuring all tasks are dealt with in a timely manner.

Respond to patient enquires, compliments, comments, or complaints, in a timely and considerate manner ensuring adherence to the Complaints Policy including timescales for responding and taking actions to reduce future complaints. With support from the practice manager and deputies if appropriate.

Support the Practice Manager and deputy leads/managers to ensure incident reporting, and complaints, are recorded appropriately according to policies and procedures and work together to ensure resolution.

Ensure the patient registration procedure is up to date and understood by relevant staff and that it is carried out effectively and efficiently.

Understand and manage the telephone system, daytime and out of hours, and be able to respond to problems in the absence of the Practice Manager and deputy leads/managers.

Work collaboratively and support patient participation group activity, including attending relevant meetings.

Alongside the Practice Manager and deputy leads/managers, liaise with and support the Patient Participation Group.

Manage the prescription process team. Facilitate the close working of this team, and wider reception team with the pharmacy team to maintain and improve the current provision of prescription services. Support staff to manage patient expectations with respect to getting prescriptions completed.

Act as a role model and manage the reception team, supporting, motivating and promoting good staff relations.

Engage and motivate team members so that they understand and work to achieve objectives and feel that their role makes a positive contribution to the outstanding performance of the practice.

Working with the Practice Manager and deputy leads/managers, line management of reception team including induction, sickness absence management, return to work interviews, staff appraisals, performance management, training and development of all reception staff. With Practice Manager and deputy leads/managers, manage allocation of duties in the reception team.

Manage reception staff rotas and holidays, always ensuring efficient deployment of staff.

Be prepared to train staff in various office applications, e.g. EMIS, Outlook, and Clarity Teamnet.

Lead the daily Huddle and hold regular team meetings to ensure information is shared with the whole team and any issues are dealt with.

Take an active role in planning, delivering and evaluating staff training afternoons.

Work collaboratively with the Practice Manager and deputy leads/managers in the recruitment and induction process of new staff.

Liaise with the Practice Manager and deputy leads/managers advising of flexible working requests, changes to hours on a monthly basis, and any termination arrangements.

Be familiar with the practice computer systems, both clinical and office systems.

Develop an understanding of the practice IT system, and IT service desk.

Attendance and involvement at Significant Event and Clinical meetings when required.

Have an understanding of QOF and the impact of reception on that.

Have an understanding of CQC compliance in so far as reception is concerned.

Understand security and fire alarm systems and be able to respond to any problems in the absence of the Operations Lead, Practice Manager and deputy leads/managers

Be able to arrange emergency/urgent call outs for maintenance or utility issues.

During the absence of the Practice Manager and deputy leads/managers take responsibility for any minor problems that may occur.