NHSL (LC) 261969 Despatcher

Job details

• Job reference: 261969
• Salary: Band 3 (£29,103 - £31,409)
• Job closing date: 23/10/2026
• Job Type: Support Services
• Location: Astley Ainslie Hospital
• Employment type: Permanent
• Hours Per Week: Various
• Job posted date: 09/10/2026
• Employer (NHS Board): NHS Lothian
• Department: Lothian Unscheduled Care Service

OUT OF HOURS SERVICE DESPATCHER

AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot can be great for planning and preparing your application—but your answers must be your own.

• Show us the real you: Your application should reflect your skills, experience, and motivations authentically.
• Use AI wisely: It’s fine to use AI for ideas or to check spelling and grammar, but don’t let it write your answers.
• Why this matters: Applications that rely on AI-generated content may be withdrawn. By applying, you confirm your responses are based on your own knowledge and achievements.

Tip: Think of AI as a helper, not a substitute. We want to understand you—not an AI tool.

To work in the United Kingdom, there is a legal requirement for an individual to demonstrate that they have the relevant permission to work in the country. This permission is, without exception, granted by the UK Visa and Immigrations Service. Further information on what NHS Scotland Boards are required to do to check this as well as what your responsibilities include can be found in the further information for this vacancy.

Please note: we anticipate a high level of interest in this position and may close the vacancy early once a sufficient amount of applications are received. Therefore, please make sure you complete and submit your application at an early stage.

We will fully support disabled candidates, and candidates with long-term conditions or who are neurodivergent by making reasonable adjustments to our recruitment policy and practices.

Please note: As this post is part-time, the salary will be pro-rata.

From £29,103 per annum whole time with variable enhancements.

• Are you interested in supporting clinicians provide urgent care
• Can you be flexible to work out of normal office hours?
• Do you enjoy working as part of a fast paced and dynamic team?
• Are you interested in regular secure hours of work?
• Do you want to work in an administrative environment which directly supports patient care, staff learning and quality?

If so, NHS Lothian’s Out of Hours Service would be keen to hear from you as we are recruiting Control Room Despatchers to our evolving service.

The role involves all aspects of managing urgent patient flow in out of hours in a primary care setting including arranging appointments with patients, organising paperwork for hospital referrals, discussions with clinicians to optimise patient journeys, setting up telephone advice calls and video conferencing. Experience and confidence in these aspects of patient navigation and support would be an advantage. A willingness to learn and develop the service are equally important.

We are seeking Control Despatchers to provide regular hours either on a part-time or full-time basis. Part-time working can be as little as one regular session per week with the option to increase hours flexibly according to your availability. We are particularly seeking persons able to undertake Mon to Sun nightshifts /evenings and weekends .

While working for the Out of Hours service, you will be supported by a manager on call and in-house team leaders.

You will benefit from support with education, personal development and appraisal when working in the OOH service.

Successful candidates will be provided with training in IT systems relevant to the Out of Hours Service as well as NHS Lothian polices covering call recording, GDPR issues and image retention.

You will have relevant, demonstrable experience and a track record of success in a team with colleagues - this may be health-care related or from another industry, but you will need to show or be willing to develop a commitment to patient-focused care, continuous development and life-long learning, including mandatory training and annual PDPs.

NHS Lothian is the second largest health system in Scotland with circa 24,000 staff and an annual revenue budget of £2.1 billion, serving a community of circa 900,000 people.

For further information on what is included in the role and what skills/experience are being looked for, click on the links at the bottom of the screen to the job description and person specification. If after reading this information you have any questions, please contact Karen Somerville - email karen.somerville@nhs.scot