Out of hours Despatcher

Job overview

Westcall, the GP out of hours service for Berkshire West is looking for motivated and driven individuals to join us in our Out of Hours Operations team on a part-time basis working during evenings, nights, weekends and Bank Holidays.

If you are looking for a new and exciting challenge, look no further. We have a role available within our dynamic operational team who are the first point of contact via telephone, for both patients and healthcare professionals across Berkshire, supporting referrers to make referrals to the Westcall service and other community services.

We are looking for an individual with a high attention to detail, who can work comfortably in a fast-paced environment, communicate confidently via the telephone and has experience in managing challenging conversations in a sensitive manner.

Flexibility and the availability to work additional hours on an ad-hoc basis during out of hours is desirable. This is a hybrid role once training has been completed.

We are recruiting for the following

Saturday 12:00-24:00

Successful candidates will be expected to offer availability on bank holidays including those over festive periods including Christmas, New Year and Easter.

Main duties of the job

• Answer incoming calls in a courteous, helpful and professional manner representing the initial contact with the service. Ensure that patients’ contact details are entered accurately onto the system databases.
• Receiving incoming referrals to the Berkshire Integrated Hub and collect supporting information from the referrer, patient and other agencies. To monitor the Berkshire Integrated hub mailbox for incoming referrals
• To ensure incoming referrals are processed in a timely manner to meet service requirements and are referred onto the appropriate service, ensuring all supporting documentation is completed and referred on.
• Efficient and accurate recording of data on the Adastra and RIO electronic patient management systems including details of clinical symptoms, relevant past medical history and medication where appropriate.
• Assist other members of the operational team including nursing, reception and driving staff with complex and challenging situations including emergency calls, patient complaints and security issues.
• Assisting operational shift leads with managing workflow, despatching and allocation of work to clinical colleagues.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The “must haves” for you to be considered for this role:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, experience of confidently communicating via the telephone and in managing challenging conversations in a sensitive manner.
• The ability to work effectively individually and as part of a team
• The ability to remain calm under pressure
• A patient centered attitude

For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.

We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted.

We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.

We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate to call: Averil Spackman on 07815 485228 or email : Averil.Spackman@berkshire.nhs.uk who’ll be delighted to help.

Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.