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Job overview
The Failsafe officer is responsible for the management of the overdue follow up waiting list within Ophthalmology and ensuring all patients have appointments within agreed timeframes. When this is not possible it is the Failsafe officers’ duty to escalate the overdue patients for clinical review.
The Failsafe officer will also be responsible for monitoring patient waiting times and overdue dates, ensuring clinical reviews take place for all overdue patients and inputting failsafe review information into the Trust system.
Main duties of the job
The Failsafe officer is responsible for ensuring Ophthalmology patients are not lost to follow up and all patients have appointments within agreed timeframes. When this is not possible it is the Failsafe officers’ duty to escalate the overdue patients for clinical review.
The Failsafe officer will be responsible for monitoring patient waiting times and overdue dates and ensuring clinical reviews take place for all overdue patients and inputting failsafe review information into Epic.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Applicant Information Pack (combined Job Description and Person Specification) for key duties and responsibilities.
As per Home Office guidelines, please be aware that, unfortunately, the Trust is unable to offer sponsorship for this particular position.
Due to Home Office immigration rules, a full time permanent vacancy cannot be filled by individuals on a Student visa. Therefore, please be advised that if you are a Student visa holder, we will not be able to offer you a full time permanent contract unless you have:
- applied for a Graduate visa
- or you will have successfully completed your course and have applied for a Graduate visa before the anticipated start date of your employment
This vacancy will close at midnight on 12th July 2026.
Interviews are due to be held on 22nd July 2026.
Benefits to you
At Cambridge University Hospitals, we want to do all we can to support good working days. We offer development opportunities and a wide range of benefits, including on-site leisure facilities, shopping concourse and day nurseries. Our good work programme currently includes providing reduced cost Stagecoach bus travel to and from Cambridge University Hospital site. Park and Ride bus journeys between Babraham Road and Trumpington sites are free, as is the route to and from Cambridge train station and our hospitals. We also subsidise the cost of parking on site for eligible staff.
On CUH campus, hot food is available 24/7 and at a reduced cost for colleagues. Recently we launched the first of our staff pod break spaces. Located in the Deakin Centre, we have a purpose-created colleague-only café, with free tea and coffee, a break space and private outside area for colleagues to rest, refuel and recharge. Just one of the ways we are working hard to support good working days at CUH.
CUH is committed to assisting employees in achieving a good work-life balance irrespective of role or personal circumstances. Flexible arrangements may include, but are not limited to, part-time working, job-share, term-time working and flexible start and finish times.
Please note if you would like to discuss the required hours of this role further, you should approach the contact given. In some cases, alternative working hours will be considered.
We welcome applications from the Armed Forces.
Person specification
Skills
Essential
- • Ability to work as part of a team
- • Excellent communication skills including telephone, email, face to face
- • Ability to organise and manage own time keeping to schedule and deadlines
- • Ability to use own initiative and work autonomously
- • Willing to take on/learn new skills
- • Ability to show attention to detail and accuracy
- • Ability to adapt to change
- • Ability to work under pressure
Desirable
- Ability to allocate and monitor work of others
- • Ability to motivate others
Knowledge
Essential
- • Excellent IT skills, experience using the full range of Microsoft Office Suite in particular Excel and Outlook
- • Ability to work on own initiative and with minimal supervision
- • Polite and confident manner
- • Ability to work effectively as member of a team
- • Ability to develop good working relationships with colleagues at all levels
- • Ability to deal tactfully and efficiently with members of the public and reassure them whilst maintaining patient confidentiality at all
- • Excellent organisational skills, with a demonstrable ability to manage and prioritise workload and work methodically, efficiently and accurately to meet tight deadlines
- • Demonstrable communication and influencing skills with an ability to communicate in both verbal and written format
- • Ability to advise on and propose changes to office systems
- • Commitment to promoting the highest standards of customer care times
Desirable
- • Knowledge of Priority scores and an understanding of how they are used for booking
- • Knowledge of how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected follow up waiting lists
- • Awareness of NHS targets and Trust priorities
- • Awareness of anti-discriminatory issues
- • Knowledge of Medical Terminology
Experience
Essential
- • Experience of working in a busy clerical/office environment or reception service
- • Secretarial and /or administrative experience
- • Prioritising, planning and organising own tasks
- • Working within guidelines
- • Experience of dealing with difficult situations and confrontations
- • Data entry experience and documentation
- • Experience of using Excel to sort and filter large amounts of data
- • Experience of IT packages – Microsoft office
- • Experience of producing documents to a high standard
Desirable
- • Excellent IT skills, experience using the full range of Microsoft Office Suite in particular Excel and Outlook
- • Ability to work on own initiative and with minimal supervision
Qualifications
Essential
- • Educated to A level or NVQ level 3 Customer Service/ Business Admin
Desirable
- • Educated to GCSE level A-C
Additional Requirements
Essential
- The ability to understand and behave at all times, towards patients, visitors and colleagues according to the Trust values of safe, kind, excellent.
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Failsafe Officer with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Cambridge, East of England, England. It is listed as a Band 4 Administrative and IT role. The advertised salary is £28,392 - £31,157 p.a. pro rata. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 12 Jul 2026.
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