About this role
Job summary
Specialist Booking Officer, Band 3- Central Booking Office (24 hours a week)
Provide a county-wide outpatient appointment booking service for patients and clinicians, ensuring adherence to wait time targets and optimal use of available capacity.
Monitor referrals, identify issues, and take appropriate actions to ensure efficient referral management.
Manage clinic rescheduling, prioritising clinical needs, and liaising directly with services or consultants to address capacity challenges.
Oversee follow-up appointments via waiting lists, ensuring clinical priorities are consistently maintained.
Make informed decisions on adjusting template capacity to balance clinical priorities with wait time targets.
Deliver a supportive and responsive service tailored to individual patient needs, particularly for those facing barriers to understanding.
Ensure accurate and timely data collection, and advise the management team on capacity imbalances, suggesting potential solutions where necessary
Shift pattern can be worked over 4 or 5 days however must include a Monday & Friday
Main duties of the job
Advanced, fast, and accurate keyboard skills equivalent to RSA Level 3.
Ability to understand and work within the established guidelines and procedures of the booking office.
Proficient in analysing information and making decisions where multiple options are available.
Intermediate IT skills with adaptability to the systems used by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Knowledge and experience in managing waiting lists, Patient TrackingLists (PTLs), and meeting both local and national waiting time targets.
Familiarity with medical terminology and tests/investigations related to the specialty.
Emotionally resilient, capable of handling distressing situations and managing challenging behaviours.
Highly organised, with the ability to prioritise and manage workload independently without supervision.
Capable of maintaining prolonged focus in a noisy and distracting environment.
A collaborative team player with the ability to train and support new team members.
About us
We take pride in placing people at the centre of everything we do, working together as a united team. Driven by a shared ambition to continually grow, develop, and learn, we recognise and value every contribution. By combining our experience and skills, we not only support our vibrant, diverse communities, but also support one another.
With a team of over 9,000 employees, we are proud to be the largest employer in Gloucestershire and rank among the top 10 largest Trusts in the South West region. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from an excellent package that includes exclusive benefits, flexible working opportunities and the chance to gain valuable experience in one of our innovative hospitals. As well as generous annual leave allowance, access to the excellent NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, discounts at local shops and restaurants, access to two on-site nurseries, discounted public transport, reward and recognition and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.
The Central Booking Office (CBO) comprises over 75 staff, including Management, Lead Supervisors, Supervisors, Booking Specialists and the Admin & Phone team. Upon completion of training, there may be an opportunity to join the hybrid working rota.
Job description Job responsibilities
Monitor and manage waiting lists efficiently, ensuring compliance with Trust and clinical targets across all county-wide sites.
Maintain and oversee the e-RS system to ensure data accuracy, promptly identifying and resolving any system errors.
Provide patients, relatives, and carers with a supportive, informative, and efficient service.
Optimise county-wide clinic capacity through effective management, including adjusting clinic schedules to balance new and follow-up appointments within clinical and wait time constraints.
Allocate specialty capacity effectively, considering the clinical abilities and specialisms of the team, making decisions to balance capacity and demand for optimal resource use.
Use expertise to supply service managers with timely information on capacity shortfalls, offering recommendations and solutions for reallocation where needed.
Ensure prompt and efficient processing of referral letters, liaising with GPs and consultants as required.
Manage the timely and accurate cancellation and rescheduling of clinics and appointments.
Identify and escalate issues in internal and external processes that could impact the work of the Central Booking Office (CBO) to the appropriate team members.
Adhere to various CBO and Trust-wide policies and procedures.
Use tact and persuasive communication to encourage attendance for procedures, particularly with patients who may be anxious, distressed, or hold negative perceptions.
Assess incoming inquiries or unexpected events, determining appropriate and timely actions, including booking appointments as necessary.
Prioritise and manage own workload to ensure all tasks are completed within required timeframes.
Undertake any additional duties relevant to the role as directed by the Line Manager.
Provide departmental coverage during periods of absence or annual leave
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Evidence of basic schooling/Education (GCSE) with English, Mathematics or Equivalent
Desirable
Professional customer care skills equating to NVQ level 3
Experience Desirable
NHS experience Knowledge of medical terminology Experience of working in customer care/ call centre environment
Knowledge/ Skills Essential
Good communication skills, written and verbal Good IT skills and a high level of proficiency in Microsoft office Excellent organisational skills Keyboard skills equivalent to RSA 3 Ability to learn various IT systems and use them alongside each other Ability to work as a part of a multidisciplinary environment
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer details Employer name Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Address Gloucestershire Royal Hospital
Gloucester
GL1 3NN
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.gloshospitals.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)