The closing date is 21st Jul 2026
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Anticipated Interview date(s) To be advised
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Job summary
If you're looking for a rewarding role where no two days are the same, we'd love to hear from you. Apply now and become an essential part of our hospital switchboard team.
The role of a bank telephonist is to answer the hospital switchboard, respond to emergency calls, provide cover to the main reception and car park intercom out of hours. Be aware of fire, major incident and lockdown procedures ensuring that all services are delivered in an efficient, courteous and polite manner to both internal and external customers.
Shift patterns will be:
Morning 1: 07:00 - 15:00
Morning 2: 07:30 - 15:30
Afternoon 1: 15:00 - 22:00
Afternoon 2: 15:30 - 22:30
Night shift: 22:30 - 07:30
As a bank telephonist you would need to be available to cover all shift patterns. The department runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.
The role requires you to be fully conversant with the Switchboards emergency procedures, including those for a Major Incident and fire security, cardiac arrests etc developed through training.
Within the role you will be required to answer the emergency phone within 5 seconds & respond via the imessage system, answer all general calls within 30 seconds, respond to fire alarms and alert the relevant teams and respond to other departmental monitoring alarms by notifying the correct departments.
Competently operate the PC based Bridge consoles and operator workstation equipment to provide a standard and consistent level of service in an efficient and cost effective manner.
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Main duties, tasks & skills required
The role consists of Main Reception cover out of hours and dealing with car park queries, payments, taxi bookings and sorting out general issues which arise on shift.
To be responsible for taking payments out of hours and storing valuable items in the safe
Finding relevant staff from on call rota to resolve problems
Respond to the fire alarm, Major incident and emergency calls and inform the relevant team
Keep a record of all actions taken in a major incident
Effective communication including with distressed, anxious or angry individuals
Required to follow processes when responding to calls or alarms
Manages conflicting demands within the job role on a daily basis
Providing non-clinical advice and information to patients/visitors/relatives/carers, and other services within the hospital when working in Switchboard via the telephone service, through effective service delivery contribution to positive patient experiences
Completing the complex 24 day rotas at night by transferring individual rota information for each speciality onto a 24 hour day sheet for switchboard, ensure the correct on call people are contacted. Managing updates & changes to these complex rotas as and when they happen
Responsible for the effective and safe use of highly complex telecommunication systems; Multitone paging system, Bridge consoles
Competently operate the current paging systems, I-message consoles
Ensuring this service is delivered fast and effectively to support critical emergency calls that are time sensitive
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About us
Simply Serve Limited - aims to provide a high quality environment and efficient services. We are passionate about our services and making a difference for our clients and their customers and service users.
We provide - a fully managed estates, facilities and other services to Yeovil District Hospital, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. This involves providing the Trusts clinical staff with the environment, equipment and consumables required to provide excellent healthcare to patients. Our services are broad and include all of the Trusts procurement and logistics management, running of the estate, IT services and other essential services.
Simply Serve Limited - is a wholly owned subsidiary of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust which provides a broad range of services to Yeovil Hospital and other NHS sites.
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Job description
The post holder will work with all levels of staff, including clinicians and senior managers, contractors, stakeholders associated with the Trust including clinicians and system users.
Communicates effectively with external stakeholders, GP's, other hospitals, Ambulance services, local authorities, police and council, dealing with service or general queries, together with taking appropriate action.
Organises own work, flexibility required switching from admin tasks, reporting or analysis to answering phone throughout the shift in order to provide an accurate and timely service
To ensure the switchboard is manned at all times and calls are answered quickly and politely and routed to appropriate departments/personnel.
Answer the emergency phone immediately, and respond to emergency by call out correct emergency team. Record call and action on appropriate record sheet.
Attend to Main Reception duties giving a courteous service to enquirers outside office hours.
To allocate and issue accommodation and keys via the Trust's Accommodation Booking system. Inform relevant staff of medical gas shortages, fire alarms and other alarms which are linked to switchboard.
To take payment for parking, accommodation and prescription charges either with cash or using the Chip and Pin terminal for card payments. Record payments on the relevant form including refunds.
Attend to the car parking assistance call system, dealing with calls using own initiative and call relevant personnel regarding car park system failure when necessary.
To issue keys to relevant personnel, checking ID, and record their distribution on the key database.
To be fully aware of the fire alarm procedure.
To be fully aware of the major incident procedure.
The position involves lone working out of hours.
Answer calls for the EFM helpdesk on ext 4444 and report the faults on FM first.
Provide support to the EFM admin team as required.
Book contract taxis when requested and keep a central record.
The post holder will be expected to support the training and development of new colleagues.
Ensuring all alarms and faults are reported, communicated clearly and actioned 24/7 in a timely manner and ensuring the correct staff are contacted for the alarm and the time of day.
Comply with all SSL Policies and Procedures including (but not exclusively), Quality, Environmental Equality, Diversity, Safety, Human Resources and Financial.
Please see the attached Job Description for further information on the role, we welcome informal enquiries so please get in touch - 01935 606593 or e-mail
[email protected]
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Person specification
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Qualifications
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Essential
Good general education (GCSEs) including English and Mathematics or equivalent
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Experience
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Essential
Proficient IT skills including keyboard skills and experience of Microsoft packages
Experience of providing customer focussed service
Experience of effective communication including with distressed, anxious or angry individuals and able to escalate where appropriate
Proven administration work
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Desirable
NHS Switchboard / Call centre experience
Experience of variable shift working
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Additional Criteria
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Essential
High level of digital literacy
Good level of digital design
Able to respond quickly to provide emergency cover in times of colleague absence
Good organisational skills
Willingness to learn
Concentration is required when dealing with customers
Able to deal with sensitive callers
Frequent VDU use
Long periods of sitting
Flexible approach to working hours & practices
Professional appearance, behaviour, and attitude
Ability to remain calm and work effectively in stressful
A calm, caring and empathic attitude towards patients, visitors, relatives & colleagues which is aligned with the NHS Values
Awareness and respect for colleagues, patients and relatives cultural, religious and emotional needs and beliefs
Good working knowledge and understanding of PC hardware, operating systems and Microsoft IT packages
Demonstrable comfort with IT systems and a willingness to learn new IT skills
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Desirable
Previous experience of healthcare or large complex organisation
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For help with your application, contact:
Rachel Harrisson
[email protected]
01935606593
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Pay scheme
Agenda for Change
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Band
Band 3
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Salary
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£13.17 to £14.05 Hourly
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Contract
Bank
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Working pattern
Part-Time, Flexible Working
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Reference number
184-OL-BA-4649
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Job locations
Yeovil District Hospital
Higher Kingston
Yeovil
Somerset
BA21 4AT
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