Part or Full time Team Administrator

at  Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust

Full or part time team administrator
If you’re an experienced administrator looking for full or part time hours during the week, we’re offering full or part time interesting administration roles within the field of diabetes. We currently have vacancies for Team Administrators to work in our busy Brighton admin hub at Moulsecoomb, just off the A27 with free on-site parking and with bus and train routes within walking distance. The role would ideally suit an experienced multi-tasker looking for a supportive work-life balance. If you’re available for 22.5 hrs or more per week then talk to us about flexible working. The service runs between 8am-5pm, Monday to Friday.
You must have good organisational and communication skills and be able to work under your own initiative to follow procedures and directions. You’ll also be actively engaged in service development for both administrative and clinical processes to maximise efficiency and ensure a good patient experience. Therefore, working collaboratively with the clinical team to achieve excellent patient outcomes is a key part of this role. Effective diary management, data entry and attention to detail are key skills we are looking for in our friendly admin team of around 8 staff.
All administrators work together to support a larger, multi-disciplinary clinical team which includes Consultants, Diabetes Specialist Nurses, Healthcare Assistants, Dietitians, Podiatrists and Psychotherapists. Main responsibilities include processing incoming patient referrals, managing patient bookings and waiting lists to ensure patients are provided with treatment in a timely manner in the location of their choosing. Receiving incoming post, emails and telephone calls in a courteous, professional manner is also a key part of the role. We are a busy service so you must be able to accurately record sensitive information correctly, for which full training will be provided. We offer a variety of services to our patients in the community across various clinical settings, home settings as well as video and telephone support, so there is lots of interesting opportunities to develop your diabetes knowledge and NHS career. We regularly receive great patient feedback and as the first point of contact we support our administrators with training and supervision to help deliver great customer service.
Our aim is to improve health outcomes for people living with diabetes, and to meet the needs of the diabetes population across East and West Sussex.
We are the main provider of NHS community services across East and West Sussex. Our 6,000 staff serve a population of 1.3 million providing essential medical, nursing, and therapeutic care to adults and children.
Our Trust vision is to provide excellent care at the heart of the community, helping people plan, manage, adapt to changes in their health, supporting avoidable hospital admissions and reducing hospital stay times.
We have opportunities for everyone across our wide variety of services including medical, clinical, support and corporate services.
Why work for us?
Positive 2023 NHS Staff Survey results, scoring highly in compassionate culture & leadership, and staff wellbeing support
Variety of working environments across the community, in patients’ homes, within our community hospitals and bases across the county
Supportive flexible working patterns such as: part time, flexi time, annualised hours, and flexi retirement options
Excellent training and development opportunities
Research opportunities
Cost-effective workplace nurseries in Crawley, Hove and Brighton
Thriving BAME, Disability and Wellbeing, LGBT+ and Religion and Belief staff networks
Level 3 accredited Disability Confident Leader, committed to creating inclusive workplaces
Veteran Aware Trust, achieving accreditation from Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA)
Located in stunning Sussex, with easy access to the South Downs and the coast
Access to a wide range of benefits and discounts for NHS staff
1. Job overview
a) Acts as a key point/first point of contact for a clinical service which may be via telephone, email or those entering the building. Ensure that patients, other members of the public, external stakeholders and colleagues within the Trust receive a courteous and supportive response to a range of queries and requests for information. Support the individual with their query and any next steps required, liaising with clinicians as necessary.
b) Process referrals in a prompt and well-executed manner to ensure patients get the service that is right for them and enables them to continue their health care journey on the correct pathway. This includes redirecting referrals back to referrer if required, obtaining additional information and ensuring on correct caseload for triage by clinicians.
c) Support patients through their journey with the service from receipt of referral to discharge (if applicable). Following the services systems and processes to ensure patients are not lost to follow up and correct actions after an appointment are taken.
2. Communication and working relationships

a) In addition to daily communication with patients, establish and maintain good working relationships, communicating regularly with:

• Team Administrators
• Operational Support Officer
• Operational Lead
• Clinicians and other healthcare professionals across the service
• SCFT Corporate Support Services (Eg: Estates & Facilities, Purchasing)
• External organisations

b) Provide and receive routine information requiring tact or persuasive skills when explaining non-clinical service information to patients and other members of the public; advise on administrative or other corporate procedures. Receives routine and urgent messages and requests for information via phone or email, responding within procedural guidelines promptly and efficiently or refers to a manager or clinician if necessary. Communicates with administrative support colleagues in other agencies and health care organisations to organise meetings, process referrals and organise ongoing care for patients.
c) Exchange information with patients, relatives, and staff on a variety of departmental matters and procedures, appropriately managing barriers to understanding. Provide feedback to GPs around inappropriate referrals and signposting to other services using speciality guidelines. Provides and receives complex or sensitive information.
3. Main tasks
a) Receives callers and visitors to the service daily. Some queries may be complex and sensitive requiring tact and diplomacy when communicating with patients, carers and their families or health professionals . Responds to all queries and requests for information promptly and effectively, exercising judgement to resolve non-clinical issues accordingly.
b) Understand the services’ multiple pathways to ensure patients are offered the right appointment with the right health professional. Provide information and guidance to patients, carers and relatives as appropriate about appointments, ongoing care and clinics. Record information on a range of computerised systems (eg SystmOne and E-referral system, ERS). Maintain all components within SystmOne i.e. tasks, recalls and pathology promptly to support ongoing patient care
c) Regularly check tidiness and cleanliness of the office environment and takes action to ensure any problems are resolved. Report any building or equipment maintenance problems to the Trust’s Estates Helpline. Maintain stocks of nursing supplies, stationery, equipment and resources for the team.
d) Format letters, reports and presentations to a high standard of accuracy and visual attractiveness. Devise and maintain efficient electronic filing, clerical and office systems. Provide administrative support to the teams, including photocopying, dealing with internal/external post and utilising Microsoft Office packages. Transcribe minutes of team meetings, which may include sensitive or confidential information regarding patient care and distribute as required.
e) Provide administrative support to the Operational Support Officer and/or Operational Lead/Clinical Service Manager in extracting information from the clinical system. Review patient safety cross check data and rectify patient specific anomalies. To escalate dashboard issues to the Operational Support Officer to investigate. Provide administrative support for recruitment as required.
4. Main responsibilities
a) Manage relevant waiting lists and ensure appointments are booked as per the organisational and service access policy/contractual time frames and send confirmation letters. Accurately update SystmOne rotas in a timely manner to reflect any changes due to sickness/annual leave and ensure patients are informed/rebooked. Ensures that electronic or paper patient, staff and other service records are filed accurately in an easily accessible system and kept secure.
b) Offer choice when calling patients to book appointments to help them decide best location/wait times and best person to see. Ensure patients have equity of access to the service by supporting with interpreters and patient transport as required. Support patients with set-up and troubleshooting queries i.e. technology advice during virtual clinics.
c) Follow standard operating procedure regarding accepting and processing structured education referrals. Review to ensure relevant information has been included and redirect to refer when threshold has not been met or results are missing; and escalate to clinician for triage when elevated levels have been noted on the referral.
d) Participate in team meetings and coordinate the process of collating patient feedback via Friends and Family Test. Coordinates diaries and book venues as appropriate. Contacts patients following attendance at structured education sessions to enable analysis of outcomes and effectiveness.
e) Ensure that all new clinical staff and administrative staff, including students are aware of departmental administrative procedures (such as SystmOne, referrals process and pathways). Assist the Operational Support Officer to co-ordinate new starter induction programmes and provide training support and act as a point of contact for support and queries.
f) Assist the Operational Support Officer with any review of office or administrative procedures and process notes by inviting and collating feedback from clinical and administrative colleagues. Contribute own ideas and suggestions and makes necessary updates if required. Support the development and maintenance of efficient and responsive administrative support function, escalating issues that .
g) Manage and prioritise own workload. During times of leave and unplanned absences provide cover for other administrative/secretarial staff as required. Ensure clinicians have all the necessary clinical notes prior to specific clinics and follow up on any actions such as processing and writing clinic outcome letters, booking follow up appointments, diagnostic tests and dealing with patients that did not arrive for their appointment (DNAs).
5. Organisation chart
Operational Lead
Operational Support Officer
Team Administrator

Please refer the Job description for details