About this role
Job summary
We are looking for a motivated and organisedAdmissions Booking Officer to support our Surgical Admissions Team.
This role provides essential cover for vacancies, long-term sickness absence, annual leave and periods of increased service demand. The post holder will support the coordination of elective surgical admissions, management of waiting lists and delivery of patient pathways across a range of surgical specialties.
Working closely with clinicians, theatre teams, ward staff and operational managers, you will help ensure patients receive timely treatment while supporting the Trust to achieve national waiting time standards, elective recovery objectives and theatre utilisation targets.
This is an excellent opportunity for an individual with strong administrative, organisational and communication skills who enjoys working in a fast-paced environment and making a positive difference to patient care.
Your contribution will directly support the Trust's commitment to delivering Five Star Patient Care to a population of over 600,000 people across the Merseyside, West Lancashire, and surrounding areas.
Main duties of the job
As a Admissions Booking Officer within the Surgical Admissions Team, you will support the delivery of elective surgical services by coordinating patient admissions and managing waiting lists to ensure patients receive timely treatment.
Key responsibilities include
- Managing elective surgical waiting lists and coordinating admissions in line with Trust policies and national standards.
- Booking patients for surgical procedures and maintaining accurate records on Trust systems.
- Acting as a point of contact for patients, carers and clinical teams regarding admissions and waiting list enquiries.
- Coordinating theatre lists to maximise capacity and support efficient use of theatre time.
- Managing cancellations and rebooking activity to minimise disruption and lost capacity.
- Monitoring patient pathways and escalating potential RTT, cancer pathway and waiting time breaches.
- Maintaining high standards of data quality and patient record management.
- Communicating admission arrangements and pathway changes to patients and multidisciplinary teams.
- Working collaboratively with clinical and operational colleagues to support patient flow and elective recovery objectives.
- Providing flexible support during periods of vacancy, long-term sickness absence, annual leave and increased service demand.
This role offers flexible working opportunities while supporting the Trust's commitment to delivering safe, effective and patient-centred care.
About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our Services
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements
- Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
- Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
- National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please ensure you have read through the attached Job Description and Person Specification before submitting your application.
Advertising date: 11th November 2026
Closing date: 20th November 2026
Shortlisting date: 23rd November 2026
Proposed Interview date: 27th November 2026
Please note, this post may close earlier than advertised if a sufficient number of applications are received.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- ECDL or equivalent
- NVQ 2 Customer Care or equivalent experience
- 5 GCSEs grade C or above
Desirable
- NVQ 3 Business and Administration
Knowledge & Experience
Essential
- Computer literate - experience of using Microsoft packages
- Working within a multidisciplinary team
- Experience of working in a customer service environment
- Excellent communication skills to overcome barriers of understanding
- Experience of collating data
- Working in a demanding environment
- Ability to organise self, working to deadlines and ensuring quality standards
Desirable
- Use of patient administrative systems
- Experience of scheduling / coordination activities and/or resources.
- Waiting list management experience
- Knowledge of NHS standards and targets
- Communication with patients in a healthcare setting
Skills
Essential
- Excellent organisational skills
- Able to work under pressure & to strict deadlines
- Able to work effectively across departmental boundaries
- Demonstrate effective written, verbal and telephone communication skills with team/clients/relatives, using tact when required
- Demonstrate knowledge of dealing with public/conflict
- Demonstrate a caring manner with an understanding disposition
- High standard of accuracy
- Flexibility and able to adapt to change
- Excellent communication skills
- Ability to work as a flexible and effective team member
Other
Essential
- To frequently sit and concentrate in a restricted position for a substantial proportion of the working time due to continuous exposure to VDU equipment, inputting information via a keyboard and using a telephone headset. Whilst using multiple computer systems at the same time.
- To multi-task between activities with frequent interruptions and a need to leave one task immediately. Reprioritise your workload to resolve any unexpected issues
- Ability to concentrate when taking patient details over the phone throughout the day
- Requirement to deal with distressed patients on a daily basis
- Working in an office environment, using a VDU continuously throughout the day
Our values
Essential
- We are Kind
- We are Open
- We are Inclusive
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
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Address
Ormskirk Hospital
Dicconson Way
Ormskirk
L39 2AZ
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.merseywestlancs.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)