The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital prides itself on being the leading centre for the treatment of patients with orthopaedic and neuro-muscular conditions.
Our busy division is looking for a Patient Pathway Administrator to join the team on a substantive basis . This post offers an excellent opportunity for an experienced, enthusiastic and conscientious individual to work within the Division of Orthopaedic Oncology & Specialist Hip and Knee Unit (Cancer and Complex joints)
This broad, patient centered and high-profile role is integral to the operational running of the department which is currently striving to meet the challenge of additional demand across the service.
The ideal candidate will have significant experience of working in the NHS. Posse excellent administrative, organisational and strong communicational skills. Have excellent IT skills.
This is a great opportunity for a candidate wishing to contribute to the efficient running of a busy service, and at the same time gaining experience in a fast-paced environment. This is a demanding but rewarding role that would suit a self-motivated and driven individual, with a keen eye for detail and the ability to priorities their workload effectively.
The role of the Patient Pathway Assistant is key to ensuring our patients are supported throughout the care they receive at RNOH. The post holder is responsible for supporting the Patient Pathway Co-ordinators with the management of patient’s pathways, from referral to discharge, including first outpatient appointment, diagnostics and follow-up appointments.
The post holder will effectively handle telephone calls, email correspondence, process referrals and book appointments, whilst ensuring that patients or visitors receive any information they need prior to accessing our services.
- Call Handling & Reception Service
- Referrals and Pathway Administration
- Appointment Bookings
- Communication and Liaison
- General responsibilities
RNOH Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust (RNOH) is the largest orthopaedic hospital in the UK and a global leader in our field. We provide a dynamic working environment where we support frontline staff to implement improvements so that we can realise our vision of being a world leading neuro-musculoskeletal hospital providing the best patient care and staff experience in the NHS, delivering world leading research, and offering a strong foundation of education, training and career progression.
Our dedicated staff come from diverse backgrounds, and our patients benefit from the wide range of experience they bring to the trust. RNOH brings unrivalled expertise together in one place allowing us to deliver some of the world’s most complex and innovative care to our patients. RNOH is rated good by the CQC and covers two sites, one in central London and one in Stanmore - which has recently opened The Stanmore Building, a new, state-of-the-art inpatient facility. For more information, please access the following link: https://www.rnoh.nhs.uk/
Call Handling & Reception Service
1. Answer inbound telephone calls promptly, and in a polite and friendly manner.
2. Respond appropriately to queries, using all available information sources to provide a response.
3. Proactively provide relevant and helpful information to patients and colleagues.
4. Where a query cannot be resolved, redirect the call to an appropriate contact who will be able to assist.
5. Make outbound calls as required to patients, GP’s and referrers.
6. Ensure a polite, smooth and efficient service is offered the departmental reception area, receiving patients at the desk and advising them as required.
7. Operation of the Trust’s electronic health record which will include booking of arrivals and negotiating suitable appointment arrangements with patients.
8. Monitoring and managing the reception waiting area to ensure that patients are seen in a timely manner and within a safe environment.
Referrals and Pathway Administration
1. Receive new referrals and check hospital data systems to see if the patient has been previously registered with a hospital number.
2. Register all patients who do not already have a hospital number, ensuring clear and accurate information is entered onto the Electronic Health Record (EHR) and that no duplicate records are created.
3. Record and capture patient information appropriately and in line with Standard Operating Procedures.
4. Ensure patient demographics are correct by checking with the patient at every encounter, highlighting any duplicate records and escalating to the supervisor.
5. Screen referrals and allocate the referral to the appropriate team, escalating when it is unclear which specialty is appropriate.
6. Use electronic patient information systems to scan, attach referrals, and create and action workqueues.
7. Support the management of key workqueues to address data quality issues, managing patient activities (e.g. appointment bookings) and other administrative tasks.
8. To ensure that no patient is 'lost to follow up' and that all patients are appropriately managed on a waiting list within the electronic health record.
9. Input clinical correspondence onto hospital databases.
10. Sending correspondence to patients, GPs, or others involved in the care of a patient, in a timely manner.
11. Review triaging information from consultants and action the required next steps, communicating a consultant’s decision not to treat or to accept the referral back to a patient, ensuring documentation is sent to the referrer and patient with the referrer and patient, as required.
12. Contact referrers to clarify the information provided in referrals if this is unclear or incomplete.
13. To action Advice and Guidance (A&G) requests on the e-RS system with responses from the clinical team, escalating where required.
14. Manage the e-RS (e-Referrals System) worklists to ensure ASIs (appointment slot issues) and referrals are appropriately managed, escalating where required.
15. Use tact, negotiation and persuasion to ensure that referrals are triaged by the clinical team in a timely fashion, and follow up with clinicians where referrals are not triaged in the expected time frame, escalating where support is required.
16. Support with the preparation of information for MDT meetings.
17. Provide administrative support for multi-disciplinary team meetings as required, including the recording and actioning of outcomes following the meetings, ensuring that this information is correct, complete and saved to the patient’s electronic health record.
18. Dispose of paper referral documentation in line with the Trust’s Information Governance policy.
19. Identify private and overseas patients and escalate to ensure the correct process is followed.
Appointment Bookings
1. Responsible for the administrative work within a designated specialty or department.
2. Book and reschedule new, follow up and diagnostic appointments, in line with the Trust’s Access Policy and Cancer Waiting Times Operational Policy.
3. Ensure patient pathway status is identified and proactively monitor the pathway to ensure that all elements of patient care are scheduled in line with regulatory access targets (e.g. RTT – referral to treatment targets, DM01 – 6 week diagnostic target and various cancer targets) and as set out in the Trust’s Access and Cancer Waiting Times Operational policies.
4. To review the patient tracking list (PTL), participate in PTL meetings and 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.
5. Generate appointment letters for patients and sending relevant information or preparation to patients in advance of their appointment. This may include the transcription and typing of tapes/notes.
6. 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.
7. Responsible for identifying vacant slots and filling them, to ensure maximum clinic and theatre list utilisation.
8. Ensure patient who have experienced cancellations are allocated new dates within the specified time limits.
Communication and Liaison
1. Manage and answer telephone calls related to the service in a courteous and prompt manner.
2. Provide reassurance for patients who may be anxious or unclear about their appointment or referral.
3. Ensure both verbal and written communication is clear and accessible to patients and visitors.
4. Where possible, use empathy and understanding to resolve issues for patients, and prevent conflict arising.
5. Contact patients as required, for example to remind them of their appointment, or when there are short notice cancellations.
6. Generate and send patient letters and information leaflets as appropriate, ensuring that the information distributed to patients is accurate and current.
7. Produce accurate correspondence for patients, GP’s and others involved in care, and ensure its timely dissemination to stakeholders, meeting relevant Trust KPIs e.g. clinic letter turnaround. This may include the transcription and typing of tapes/notes. Correspondence for clinically urgent and cancer MDT outcomes should be prioritised.
8. Using hospital information systems, produce accurate correspondence for patients, GP’s and others involved in care, and ensure its timely dissemination to stakeholders, meeting relevant Trust KPIs e.g. clinic letter turnaround.
9. Respond to email & in-basket queries from patients and colleagues promptly
10. Arrange for an interpreter where required.
11. Respond to queries from referrers and resolve their queries where possible, escalating to colleagues as required.
12. Escalate more complex queries, providing reassurance, an expected response time, and further contact details as appropriate.
13. Support patients to register for the patient portal.
General responsibilities
1. Maintain patient confidentiality at all times adhere to the Trust Data Protection, GDPR and Confidentiality Policy.
2. Maintain adequate stock levels for the department, using Trust systems to procure required items.
3. Handle incoming and outgoing mail in a timely manner.
4. Scan documents and save the files promptly and accurately on to the patient electronic health record.
5. Ensure office protocols are adhered to, for example telephone answering times and voicemail or mailbox cover.
6. Report any faults with equipment or the environment to the relevant department promptly, and as appropriate.
7. Assist volunteers in the department.
8. Adhere to the Trust’s Dress Code policy, and ensure a smart and professional appearance at all times.
9. Work flexibly to ensure consistent administrative cover across the departments/Units as requested by the supervisor, including covering colleagues or periods of absence where appropriate and within the scope of capabilities.
10. Assist with the induction and orientation of new staff in the department, showing colleagues how to complete tasks associated with the role.
11. Responsible for ensuring an efficient administrative service is provided, and identify opportunities for improvement.
The job description is not intended to be exhaustive and it is likely that duties may be altered from time to time in the light of changing circumstances and after consultation with the post holder.
