Job Description

Modality Partnership East Surrey Division has a full time vacancy for a Receptionist working at Smallfield Surgery. The postholder will provide support to the patients, doctors, practice manager, and all other members of the extended Primary Care Team, by ensuring smooth running of the Practice on a day-to-day basis as an integral part of the patient services team. We are seeking dedicated postholders to join our team and who can display our CARE values: Commitment, Accountability, Respect and Excellence.

This job is suitable for individuals who are problem-solvers, enjoy interacting with patients and service-users, have a passion for providing high quality customer service and ensuring patients have a positive experience.

As an employee with us you can benefit from

Enrolment to the NHS pension scheme

Annual leave minimum 27 days, plus 8 days bank holiday pro rata

Employee discounts and benefits scheme

Employee assistance programme (EAP)

Education and career pathways

Enhanced Family friendly policies

Flexible working

Wellbeing support and initiative

If you are interested in learning more, please read on.

Main duties of the job

The role is an all-rounded, patient facing and back- office administration role; we are seeking individuals to join our team who are caring, compassionate and confident, who demonstrate effective communication, excellent customer service skills, IT skills, and the ability to support patients with general enquiries and signpost them to the most appropriate team member or service. The postholder will be a key member of the practice team, responsible for completing a variety of tasks including dealing with patient requests i.e. appointment booking, general enquiries in person and over the telephone, as well as performing a number of administrative duties.

The role is not a regular 9am-5pm job and is not a pure reception role; the job requires innovation, flexibility and commitment and the postholder will be required to work resourcefully as part of the team to ensure tasks are completed.

Overview of your organisation

We are one of the largest GP super-partnerships in the UK, serving over 450,000 patients and with a workforce of 1500+. We are unique, we are always looking at ways to improve our delivery of services through the implementation of new and innovative solutions that we can scale across the organisation. Your job is to work directly with key stakeholders to help us to harmonise ways of working and improve working practices to improve patient and staff satisfaction. Most reception roles focus on patient or customer facing responsibilities. This is a role that will also equip you with a portfolio of administration skills associated with the reception back-office function within Primary Care, to make sustainable changes.

Modality Partnership is an Equal Opportunities Employer and is committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all our potential applicants in line with the Equality Act, 2010.

To receive and greet patients, clients and visitors to the Practice in a welcoming and professional manner and to act as a point of contact between patients, clients, visitors, GPs, healthcare professionals, Partners and Practice staff.

To act as a chaperone for doctors as requested

To engage with patients/clients, provide advice and proactively signpost them to the most appropriate clinician/service (care navigation) as per agreed protocol.

To deal with any verbal queries, concerns or complaints from patients, clients or visitors in a professional manner and to escalate to the Patient Services Manager as appropriate.

To identify callers or patients who may present in person as requiring an immediate emergency response and refer to appropriate clinician, emergency ambulance service or A&E department.

To take telephone and online requests from patients and accurately record all essential information on the clinical system.

To answer/make telephone calls in a professional manner, ensuring important/appropriate information is documented and redirected accordingly and to accurately take messages.

To provide accurate and up to date information to answer the enquiries of patients, clients and visitors, where necessary seeking the advice of others, and responding to and/or redirecting all patient and visitor requests accordingly

To deal with general enquiries from patients regarding medication

To accurately maintain and update appointment systems, booking in patients and visitors in line with Practice appointments and visitor procedures

To arrange for an ambulance for patients as and when requested by a clinician

To receive and receipt cash and cheques from patients and clients for non-NHS services in line with Modality procedures.

To receive paperwork associated with requests from outside agencies (e.g. insurance/ travel cancellation forms) informing patients of cost and directing to the appropriate department

To undertake registrations/deductions of patients at the Practice following Modality procedures including receiving and checking forms, processing Lloyd George records and providing advice as required

To promote participation in Practice surveys, including Family and Friends Test, to patients, clients and visitors

To undertake a variety of administration duties including preparing and printing repeat prescriptions according to standard operating procedures at patients request, distributing prescriptions, photocopying, faxing, filing, preparing of letters for posting and clerical support to others within the Practice.

To promote EPS and patient access

To support the effective running of clinical and non-clinical meetings in Practice, including assisting with attendee coordination, agenda circulation, information gathering, room preparation, visitor meet and greet and minuting as required

To accurately maintain and update both computerised and manual filing systems, including setting up new patient records on the clinical system, updating patient details and entry of identified clinical data (including read codes) to medical records.

To undertake electronic scanning of correspondence and allocation to patient records or onward electronic workflow according to Modality's policies and procedures

To receive and distribute external and internal post, including all incoming fax and e-mail documents and redirect as appropriate.

To maintain patient and staff confidentiality at all times including outside of the work environment working within reference to the Data Protection Act 2018, Caldicott Guidelines and GDPR requirements

To ensure Reception, waiting areas, notice boards and clinical rooms are maintained in a clean and tidy state, preparing and tidying rest and meeting areas when requested, including the loading and emptying of the dishwasher.

To ensure fax machine is operating correctly and, prior to close of Practice in the evenings/weekends, has adequate paper supply.

To open and lock up the reception area at the beginning and end of the day and to ensure the building is secure each evening before leaving and adequately alarmed (site specific)

To check and respond regularly to tasks, emails and notifications.

To notify the Patient Services Manager of any faulty equipment or IT/equipment failures

To attend meetings as required e.g. business meetings, Reception meetings and PLT sessions.

To provide guidance and training to new members of staff to help them achieve their objectives.

To provide guidance and instructions to locums, including the provision of system log ins and an overview of practice protocols and procedures

To provide holiday and sickness cover for Reception and other administration duties as required

To advise the Patient Services Manager of any problems and take appropriate action as directed.

To undertake any other duties commensurate with the scope of the role and within the post holders skillset as requested

To participate and assist with practice audits.

To provide a comprehensive and efficient co-ordination service supporting the Birmingham Division practices in the learning and development for all trainees attached to the Division, including registrars, medical students, nursing students, pre-registration Pharmacists and apprentices.

To adhere to Modality Partnership's procedure for the completion of all relevant Mandatory Training

To ensure learning from individually attended training sessions is cascaded to all members of the team.

To participate in extended hours, work as required by the organisation

Adhering to Modality Partnership's policies and procedures when processing medical reports including solicitor/insurance/safeguarding requests, tracking and receiving payments, sending for and checking notes, typing of medical reports

Please note: Modality Partnership reserves the right to close this vacancy at any point during the recruitment stage.

Pre-employment

Vaccinations

As part of recruitment to the Modality Partnership, we will be checking the vaccination status of all new starters so that we can manage individual and environmental risks. We will offer support to those who may be undecided about vaccinations. Some vaccinations for certain roles are mandatory, and you will be asked to provide evidence of this where there is a mandatory requirement.

Right to work checks

All applicants invited for interview will need to prove their right to work in the UK at the interview stage.

We are not able to provide sponsorship for this role, anyone requiring sponsorship need not apply.

References

References must be secured prior to beginning employment, one must be your current or most recent employer.

Employment history

You must notify us of any employment gaps of 6 weeks or more.

Person Specification:

What are the minimum requirements all candidates need to meet?

Qualifications and Experience:

We require high performing team members to join our team with:

Knowledge

Customer service principles and practices Basic medical terminology

Reception protocols

Basic telephone call management, including taking and transferring calls NHS systems

MS Word, Outlook, Excel and other relevant software packages

Knowledge of / experience from within NHS/General Practice

Previous call-handling experience

Skills

Customer service orientation

Excellent listening, communication and interpersonal skills

Problem-analysis and problem-solving

Administrative and organisational skills

Ability to follow policies, practices and protocols.

Stress tolerance

Ability to handle patients (both on the telephone and in person) who may be angry, upset or distressed.

Computer-literate and adaptable in using different software

Personal Qualities

Confident and welcoming demeanour

Professional approach to work

Good telephone manner

Strong team player

Smart appearance

Exercises tact and discretion at all times

Demonstrates initiative to handle any unforeseen events during a shift

Demonstrates flexibility towards new working practices and towards working hours

Salary is per annum WTE

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: 12.25 per hour

Expected hours: 37.5 per week

Benefits:

Company pension Cycle to work scheme Health & wellbeing programme
Schedule:

Monday to Friday
Work Location: In person

Application deadline: 30/04/2025