Communications Supervisor

Job overview

We are looking for a dedicated individual to join our Switchboard Team as the Communications Supervisor.

The service is provided 24 hours, 365 days per year and the successful candidate must be prepared to work on rotas across these timeframes, which will include weekends, bank holidays and lone working at night - flexibility and commitment is essential.

You will need to be well organised, flexible and with a good standard of education and the ability to learn quickly, to undertake the Switchboard duties within our busy team

Main duties of the job

Responsible for supervising a comprehensive, efficient and quality based communication service across the health community in Cornwall. Responsible for supervising 12 staff, including flexible working staff, within the Switchboard service at Bodmin Hospital. Providing a message handling communication service. Managing day to day incidents - dealing with anything from disaster recovery, implementation of new technology and ensuring daily processes are followed and understood.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Switchboard service is a critical frontline service based at Bodmin Hospital providing a comprehensive, efficient, and quality based communication service across the health community in Cornwall, managing over 240,000 calls per annum.

The service supports the Trust, NHS Kernow (KCCG) and One Cornwall (Social Services) with forwarding of calls and message handling in addition to approximately 30 teams/services within the Trust. It is a vital role in assisting out of hours services and holding the operational ‘on call’ rotas.

In addition the Switchboard is the first point of contact for a range of emergency lines, including fire phone, intruder alarms, Sowenna staff attack, Bodmin Hospital security CCTV and more recently the Urgent Crisis Referral, as well as the co-ordination of several services such as Cornwall Blood Bikes.

The service is provided 24 hours, 365 days per year and the successful candidate must be prepared to work on rotas’ across these timeframes, which will include weekends, bank holidays and lone working at night, flexibility is essential.

You must have previous experience of dealing with the general public and possess excellent communication skills both written and verbal and also be able to adapt quickly to changes.

Previous experience as a telephonist and knowledge of office systems with keyboard and computer skills are desirable.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be given a minimum of 3 months training to bring them up to speed with the diversity of the services which use the Switchboard.

We will ensure you are confident in shifts before you move onto any out of hours working, so you are well equipped to carry out this interesting and varied role. There are shifts where enhanced rates are applied, which will boost your hourly rate when working out of hours.

The post holder will work shifts to provide a comprehensive communication service to all Trust Managers, Department heads and users of the service. The post holder will at all times be courteous and attentive to customers both internally and external to the NHS Health Community within Cornwall. Working within the Communications Department providing a comprehensive central communication service across the whole of Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust and the Health Community. Staffing an efficient and quality based communications service over 24 hours, 365 days per year.