About

The post holder will be responsible for the line management of the administrative staff and for ensuring the smooth running of the directorate in relation to its administration functions. They
will manage the administrative, clerical, secretarial and patient co-ordination needs of the directorate. Plus, ensure, through careful monitoring of workloads that activity targets are met and that patient management is in line with the patient access policy. Other key tasks will
include managing various projects/developments from inception to implementation.

The post holder will be required to work closely with other members of the administrative team and clinical teams, including managers, administrators, nursing and medical staff, allied health professionals and support workers.
The post holder will be required to liaise with a range of staff internally and externally across the Trust and with partner and external organisations.
In addition, as the most senior member of the specialty administration function, the post holder will take on delegated duties from divisional management team members.

The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King’s to another level.

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

Main Duties and Responsibilities Communication and Patient Liaison

1. Communicate complex or sensitive information clearly, effectively and appropriately with
the multidisciplinary team, patients and their family, visitors or carers, and other clinicians
involved in the care of the patient, e.g. General Practitioners.
2. Role model excellent customer service skills to the wider administrative team.
3. Manage and answer telephone calls related to the service in a courteous and prompt
manner.
4. Provide patients with information about appointments or non-clinical advice and guidance
regarding their care.
5. Resolve complex queries, using analysis, experience and judgement to determine when
to pass the caller on to a member of the clinical team.
6. Support administration staff to resolve complex queries that they have escalated, taking ownership of the query and ensuring a satisfactory outcome.
7. Act as a point of contact for the department or specialty, dealing with queries from
stakeholders and passing on relevant information to appropriate team members or
departments as required.
8. Receive and respond to e-mail and ‘In-Basket’ queries, monitoring, managing and triaging
email correspondence to generic inboxes.
9. Using hospital information systems including Epic, produce accurate correspondence for
patients, GP’s and others involved in care, and ensure its timely dissemination to
stakeholders.
10. Deal with stressful situations that may arise when dealing with patients who are anxious
or distressed, or where there are barriers to understanding, using tact, diplomacy and
empathy at all times and in line with Trust values.
11. Use developed communication skills in order to deal with patient concerns or complaints
with empathy and understanding, finding a solution that assures the patient.

Coordinating Care

1. Take overall responsibility for the administrative work carried out by the administrative team within a designated specialty or department.

2. Receive and register referrals on hospital information systems in line with the Trust’s Elective Access Policy, ensuring that the administrative team are supported in doing the same.

3. Book, or reschedule, appointments or diagnostics for patients, in accordance with the Trust’s Elective Access policy. Take responsibility for resolving complex booking and scheduling issues that have been escalated to you by the administrative team.

4. Proactively monitor the patient pathway in order to ensure that all elements of a patients care are arranged appropriately, and in a timely manner.

5. Identify potential delays or issues with a patient pathway or potential breaches, and take preventative steps to avoid these, i.e. chasing diagnostic tests, results of tests.

6. Manage the outpatient waiting list, ensuring escalations are provided appointments within breach.

7. Lead and take part in PTL meetings.

8. Prepare information for MDT meetings.

9. Ensure adequate preparation for clinics or admissions, receive and collate reports of investigations such as blood tests and x-rays, and preparing information for clinical teams before the next clinical appointment of the patient.

10. Responsible for procuring items related to patient admissions, or contacting theatres for equipment.

Supporting Clinical Teams

1. Organise meetings for the clinical team, acting as administrative support for specialty meetings as required, which includes agenda preparation, minute taking, updating action trackers for example.

2. Provide diary management and support to the clinical team, including processing their leave arrangements, cancelling clinics and rebooking appointments when leave is approved.

3. Advise and support clinical teams on Trust administrative processes.

4. Support and assist new members of the clinical team, ensuring they are familiarised with the administrative service and have access to Trust systems upon commencement.

5. Provide support on governance issues, such as patient complaints, PALS queries, and incident responses, gathering information in order to support a response.

6. Support local department initiatives, e.g. coordinating and dissemination of responses.

Data Management and Quality

1. Ensure patient demographic data is correct and updated if necessary, checking this at every patient interaction and supporting the administrative team to routinely do the same.

2. Ensure accurate and timely data capture, for all routine and urgent pathways.

3. Complete all validations for non-admitted patients in a timely fashion to ensure appropriate activity is captured in order to ensure income recovery.

4. Proactively identify and follow up on key data items or outcomes that are absent or incomplete.

5. Use information systems to extract data to populate reporting templates as required, and in accordance with reporting schedules.

6. Assist in the preparation and submission of reports or data collections, analysing data and presenting data appropriately for the intended audience, which may include external agencies or stakeholders.

7. Administer and maintain all relevant hospital information systems

8. Maintain local department databases or logs to enable services to track status or performance in a required area, e.g. complaint responses, leading on the administrative elements of audit activity for the clinical team and specialty.

People responsibilities

1. Provide day to day management to a team of administration staff, including handling of informal disciplinary, grievances, performance issues and sickness management.

2. Allocate work to the administration team, taking into account department priorities and using judgement to delegate work appropriately.

3. Ensure adequate cover across the department, through effective rota management and leave planning.

4. Provide annual staff appraisals, staff development and work based training activities to members of the team.

5. Responsible for the induction and on-going development of a team of administrators, taking responsibility for identifying training needs within the administration team in regards to data entry and pathway/waiting list management and acting upon them.

6. Support with all aspects of the recruitment and selection process, including shortlisting, assessment and interviews.

7. Cascade information to colleagues in the team.

8. Welcome new starters into the team, ensuring they are set up with access to relevant systems and providing them with any required on-the-job training.

9. Provide cross cover for other administrative staff, as required during periods of absence to ensure a consistently high level of service is provided.

10. Assist volunteers in the department.

Service Development and Improvement

1. Identify any trends, reviewing and taking action to address these.

2. Proactively review capacity for the service, identifying potential capacity issues, recommending remedial actions and working with the clinical team to address them.

3. Collate, interrogate and present information on service performance and activity, using expert knowledge of the service and patient pathways to flag any underperformance.

4. With the support of the divisional management team, take part in service improvement initiatives for the department, implementing changes in process, reviewing their effectiveness and adapting as required.

5. Investigate any performance issues that are identified by the central performance team, collating information in connection with the issue and compiling reports as required.

6. Regularly update the clinical team and management team with regards operational service delivery.

7. Support and actively engage with the introduction and implementation of new Trust wide systems, for example supporting colleagues as a super user.

8. Able to use reports available within IT systems such as Epic to support with service developments and clinical queries.

General Administration and Office Duties

1. Ensure appropriate handover of any outstanding administrative procedures related to clinical care at the end of a shift, or before periods of absence.

2. Provide secretariat support for the department or division, including organising and administering meetings.

3. Maintain adequate stock levels for the department, using Trust systems to procure required items.

4. Coordinate department diaries or rotas to ensure an efficient service is maintained.

5. Responsible for identifying and reporting environmental issues, resolving general office maintenance issues and reports those that fall beyond personal capabilities.

6. Manage generic inboxes, triaging and ensuring responses are sent by the relevant person in a timely fashion.

7. Maintain patient confidentiality at all times.

8. Report any faults with equipment or the environment to the relevant department promptly, and as appropriate.

9. Adhere to the Trust’s Dress Code policy, and ensure a smart and professional appearance at all times.

10. Work flexibly to cover all administrative areas as requested by the supervisor, including covering colleagues or periods of absence where appropriate and within the scope of capabilities.

11. Proactively identify potential issues or risks that may compromise the smooth running of the department, and escalate these.

12. Responsible for ensuring an efficient administrative service is provided, and identify opportunities for improvement.