CYP Peripatetic Administration Assistant

Job overview

Are you a confident and flexible individual with strong engagement, customer care, and communication skills, who thrives as part of a creative and motivated team? If so, we would love to hear from you!

We are seeking two highly motivated, enthusiastic, and compassionate individuals to join our Children’s Services Admin and Business Support Teams. This role is ideal for people who enjoy variety and can work flexibly, efficiently, and independently to support a range of services.

This is a substantive, full-time, Peripatetic Administration Assistant role, providing essential cover for the administrative roles that support Specialist Children’s Services. This will include children’s unit reception, business support, and both general and specialist administration.

Main duties of the job

Applicants must possess excellent communication and administration skills, with strong knowledge of all Microsoft Applications. Candidates must be able to work as part of a team and independently as well as being able to use their initiative and work to deadlines with attention to detail and accuracy.

The postholder will need to have previous administration and secretarial experience, including experience of undertaking a range of administrative duties as well as having excellent customer care skills.

Applicants will need to be able to evidence a solid background working in a busy office environment, preferably with experience of working in the NHS. Knowledge of SystmOne would be an advantage, but training can be provided for the successful candidate.

The ability to work flexibly across different roles and as part of a team in a busy office environment is essential. The postholder will be required to work proactively, have good numerical skills and be able to multi-task, demonstrating self-management and prioritisation of their workload.

The base for this post is Norwich Community Hospital but the postholder may be required to travel to other sites. The successful candidate will need to hold a clean, full UK driving license, be flexible and versatile and have access to their own vehicle or be able to make alternative travel arrangements to meet the needs of the service.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To anticipate and assess problems or issues, showing initiative and exercising independent judgement in resolving or actioning them.

• To independently manage, undertake and prioritise a variety of administrative and clerical duties and undertake other general office duties which follow standard processes with the occasional need to deviate. These include:
• To cover shift times from 08:00 to 17:00 hours, excluding weekends and public holidays.
• Dealing appropriately with all telephone enquiries as well as face to face patient contact, which may include investigating and problem solving as well as regularly dealing with matters of a complex and/or distressing nature.
• Using a range of software programmes to produce, maintain and distribute documents, including adhoc and routine reports, spreadsheets, databases and presentations, which may include medical terminology.
• Understanding of a range of work procedures and practices, some of which are non-routine, including transfers of care to community wards.
• Require a base level of theoretical knowledge of a range of administrative roles which need covering.  This is normally acquired through formal training or equivalent experience.
• Photocopying, scanning, emailing, distributing, filing and organising letters, reports and other documents.
• Setting up and maintaining comprehensive, confidential records and filing systems, ensuring that all records are kept up-to-date and filing is carried out in a timely manner.
• Receiving, sorting and distributing incoming mail, relating it to previous correspondence as appropriate and ensuring that outgoing post is sent in a timely manner.
• Researching appropriate websites, downloading and circulating documents, as requested.
• Organise and provide cover to a range of administrative roles in the Place as required, working flexibly with the Administration Service Manager and Business Support Manager to ensure all areas are adequately covered. Liaising with teams and updating the rota’s accordingly.  This will require travel to other sites.
• Take into account the experience, skills set and availability of staff, to allocate work as part of the monthly staff rota, adjusting the rota as required on a daily or weekly basis taking into account changes in staff availability and the changing demands of the service.

4 To maintain schedules and diaries, organise and service meetings and clinics.  This will include resolving appointment conflicts, issuing meeting invitations, formulating agendas, distributing papers, making room bookings, arranging meeting room layout, equipment, hospitality, greeting visitors and taking notes or formal minutes at meetings.

• Inputting onto various databases and systems, e.g. SystmOne, Storm, PAS, Oracle and designated spreadsheets, within the required timescales and deadlines. This includes scanning referrals and patient documents which may be urgent.
• To undertake receptionist/telephonist duties this includes checking in patients to clinics. To be a point of contact for internal and external callers and visitors, re-directing callers and service users, where appropriate, and providing information or answering questions on routine matters, ensuring that accurate messages are passed on in a timely manner.
• Receive and process telephone calls, including referrals which may be urgent and/or challenging, liaising with health professionals to correctly process the referral. Monitoring the caseload, processing cancellations, including rebooking and/or ending referrals/patient care as requested by the service.
• To undertake audits as requested by the Administration Service Manager and Business Support Manager.
• To communicate with patients and clients at an appropriate level providing clear information and guidance and dealing with patients’ fears and lack of understanding, exercising tact and judgement in dealing with and resolving routine enquiries, taking accurate messages and ensuring these are passed to the relevant person on a timely manner.
• To provide accurate, appropriate, and timely information about Trust services and non-clinical advice to patients, relatives and careers and if necessary.
• To communicate professionally and effectively with colleagues, stakeholders and service users at all levels, providing clear information and guidance, exercising tact and judgement in dealing with and resolving enquiries taking accurate messages and ensuring these are actioned and/or passed to the relevant person in a timely manner.
• To provide and receive contentious or sensitive information about difficult or complex matters and to respect confidentiality at all times. To exercise tact and diplomacy when communicating information to patients which may be distressing to the receiver or where there may be barriers to understanding.
• To ensure there are robust and effective systems in place to ensure excellent communication within the team and to regularly update staff of any changes to the service.
• To build effective working relationships with the Clinical Leads of the services that are supported by the administration and business support teams within Children’s Services.
• The post holder will be required to support the Administration Service Manager and Business Support Manager in undertaking service improvement and development activities.
• To assist the Administration Service Manager and Business Support Manager in to create personalised training plans for new starters. Supporting with the local induction and the training of new colleagues.
• To be responsible for the efficient use of office equipment and supplies, monitoring and maintaining stock levels, requisitioning and receipting goods and services on the NHS procurement system, Oracle and carrying out research into goods and services as required.
• To report maintenance, cleaning, health and safety and other site issues in line with current procedures keeping the line manager/site manager informed at all times. To undertake any other site and facilities duties as requested.
• To attend relevant meetings, including service meetings for those services that are supported by the administration and business support teams. These may be virtual or in person. This may require travelling to other sites.
• To implement policies for own work area and propose changes and to assist with the development of policies and documents for own work area.
• It is the post holder’s responsibility to ensure that they have undertaken all mandatory training, in line with Trust policies and procedures.