Senior Medical Receptionist / Reception Team Lead – Dr Helen Allergy & Dr Helen Medical
Full-time| £16.50 per hour | Ringwood | In person - no remote working
Dr Helen Allergy and Dr Helen Medical are growing specialist medical clinics based in Ringwood. We are looking for an experienced Senior Medical Receptionist / Reception Team Lead to join our team and take a leading role in the day-to-day running of our reception and administrative service.
This is a senior but very much hands-on role. The successful candidate will lead and support the reception team while remaining actively involved in the everyday work of the clinic, including answering telephone calls, responding to emails, managing bookings and covering reception.
We are looking for someone who naturally takes ownership of the reception function: someone who knows what is happening across the clinics, keeps an overview of appointment diaries and patient enquiries, ensures follow-up and return appointments are booked appropriately, and helps the reception team deliver a consistently excellent patient experience.
Previous medical administrative experience is essential. Experience within private healthcare would be particularly advantageous.
About the role
You will be a senior member of our administrative team, helping to coordinate the day-to-day reception service across Dr Helen Allergy and Dr Helen Medical.
Alongside undertaking the same core reception duties as the wider team, you will provide day-to-day leadership, oversight and support to the reception team.
You will be expected to maintain an overview of clinic activity and patient flow, identify administrative issues before they become problems and ensure that enquiries, bookings and follow-ups are managed efficiently.
A particularly important part of the role will be understanding and overseeing the complete patient journey – from the patient's first telephone call or email through to booking, consultation, investigations or treatment, payment and appropriate follow-up.
This would suit an experienced medical receptionist or administrator who enjoys being involved in the detail but is also ready to take greater responsibility for how a reception team operates.
Key responsibilities
Hands-on reception and patient administration
- Answering patient telephone calls and responding to emails and other enquiries
- Providing regular front-of-house reception cover and welcoming patients to the clinic
- Booking, changing and coordinating appointments across our medical and allergy clinics
- Managing patient records, correspondence, clinic letters and other medical administration
- Processing payments, invoices and account queries
- Billing private medical insurance companies and managing associated administrative processes
- Liaising with insurers regarding authorisations, invoices and payment queries
- Coordinating investigations, referrals and follow-up appointments
- Liaising closely with doctors, nurses and other members of the clinical team
- Maintaining accurate and up-to-date patient and administrative records
Reception team leadership and oversight
- Providing day-to-day leadership and support to the reception team
- Helping to organise reception workload and ensuring calls, emails and administrative tasks are dealt with promptly
- Being a point of support and escalation for reception staff when queries or problems arise
- Helping maintain consistently high standards of communication and customer service across the team
- Supporting the induction and training of new reception staff
- Identifying where reception processes could be improved and helping implement more efficient ways of working
- Ensuring appropriate reception cover is maintained throughout clinic opening hours
Bookings and patient journey
- Maintaining an overview of appointment diaries across both clinics and understanding current and upcoming clinic capacity
- Proactively monitoring bookings and identifying gaps, under-booked clinics or administrative issues
- Ensuring patients who require follow-up or return appointments are appropriately booked
- Monitoring outstanding patient enquiries and ensuring these are followed through rather than lost
- Helping ensure that patients move smoothly from initial enquiry through consultation, investigation, treatment and follow-up
- Working with the clinical and management teams to maximise appropriate use of available appointments
- Recognising opportunities to improve the patient journey and ensuring patients receive clear information about the services available to them
- Helping ensure that no patient is inadvertently lost to follow-up because of an administrative or booking issue
About you
Essential
- Previous experience in medical administration, medical reception or healthcare administration
- Experience working in a busy patient-facing reception or administrative environment
- The confidence and experience to lead and support other reception staff
- A willingness to remain fully involved in day-to-day reception duties, including telephone calls, emails, bookings and front-desk cover
- Excellent organisational skills and the ability to maintain an overview of multiple clinics and priorities
- Strong IT skills and the ability to learn new clinical and administrative systems quickly
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Confidence communicating with patients, clinicians and external organisations
- Excellent attention to detail
- A professional, compassionate and patient-focused approach
- The ability to identify problems, take ownership and follow tasks through to completion
- Ability to prioritise and manage a varied workload within a busy clinic
- Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a small team
Desirable
- Previous experience in a senior receptionist, reception supervisor or team leader role
- Previous experience within a private medical clinic or private healthcare setting
- Experience of private medical insurance billing and authorisation processes
- Experience liaising with private medical insurers
- Experience with medical billing, invoicing and payment reconciliation
- Experience using electronic patient record and appointment-booking systems
- Experience monitoring clinic diaries, appointment utilisation or patient follow-up
- An understanding of the importance of the patient/customer journey within private healthcare
The person we are looking for
We are looking for someone who is proactive rather than purely task-driven.
You will notice when a clinic has unexpected gaps, when a patient has not booked their recommended follow-up, when an enquiry has not been responded to or when something within the reception process is not working as well as it should.
You will be comfortable taking responsibility for resolving these issues while supporting the wider reception team to work effectively.
This is not a purely supervisory or office-based management position. The Senior Receptionist will work alongside the reception team and will be expected to answer calls, respond to emails, make bookings and cover the front desk as part of their normal working day.
Working hours
This is a full time position.
Clinic administrative hours are:
Monday–Friday, 8am–5pm
There will also be a requirement for occasional weekend working to support clinic activity.
Exact working days and hours can be discussed depending on the successful applicant and the needs of the service.
Salary
£16.50 per hour
What we offer
- A friendly and supportive specialist medical team
- A varied and responsible role across both general medical and specialist allergy services
- The opportunity to take a leading role in developing our reception service as the clinics grow
- Ongoing training and development
- A professional and welcoming working environment
- The opportunity to make a genuine difference to the experience patients receive from first contact through to follow-up
How to apply
If you are an experienced medical receptionist or administrator who enjoys working directly with patients but is also ready to take greater responsibility for leading a reception team and overseeing the patient journey, we would be delighted to hear from you.
Please apply with your CV and a brief covering letter outlining your relevant medical administrative experience, including any senior or team leadership responsibilities and any experience within private healthcare or dealing with private medical insurance companies.
Work location: In person, Ringwood
Job types: Full-time
Salary: £16.50 per hour
Pay: £16.50 per hour
Expected hours: No less than 38.0 per week
Work Location: In person
