Patient Pathway Administrator

Job overview

The post holder will be expected to provide primary administrative support to the consultants and clinicians, including booking follow up appointments, correspondence support and other administrative duties as required and as directed by the Team leader/Service Manager on a day-to-day basis according to service.

Patient administration underpins the patient journey and supports clinical teams in delivering high quality patient care and can make a real difference to the patient experience.  Effective and efficient patient administration supports management through ensuring a high standard of data quality and by making the best use of capacity and resources.

The post holder is required to assist in the provision of a professional, comprehensive, and efficient administrative service, which is effectively delivered to all patients and members of the department.  This will be through supporting the clinical and administrative teams in the delivery of a comprehensive administrative service.  This will involve waiting list management and validation of pathways for a speciality, in accordance with the Elective Access Policy, current RTT targets, communicating appointment and admission related information to patients and carers and/or typing correspondence as appropriate.

Main duties of the job

• Monitor urgent investigation requests to ensure they are processed appropriately.
• To assist the Patient Pathway Team Leader and the Patient Pathway Manager with the management of the Diagnostic Patient Tracking List (PTL).
• Liaise with Inpatient Waiting List, Outpatient Booking and Cancer Access Teams to monitor the 18 week RTT pathway and Cancer Access Standards.
• Working with the Service Manager and supported by the Patient Pathway Manager, be responsible for monitoring the 18 week pathway and Cancer targets for patients awaiting treatment.
• To work closely with all staff in the service to ensure compliance with 18 week referral to treatment (RTT) and Cancer access targets, intervening where necessary to expedite appointments / surgery to avoid breaches.
• Maintain an accurate and current filing system, ensuring letters, clinical reports, diagnostic test results and other notes are filed in the correct patient notes on EPR in either paper or electronic record systems.
• Follow the tracking procedure for the movement of all patient notes (Case Note Tracking).
• Update patient details on EPR to include ensuring patients that require discharge are processed accordingly and Patients Missing Follow Up List is updated.
• Act upon queries from referrers, patients and other relevant parties in liaison with clinical staff.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Book patients in for surgery. Liaising with the consultants to manage theatre lists.

• Ensure appropriate follow up appointments are booked and escalate to Team Leader and consultant if patient cannot be booked within required time scales. • Respond to telephone queries coming into the department, taking clear messages to pass to relevant staff to ensure requests are actioned promptly. • Using Scan IT ensure that electronic health records filing is maintained at an extremely high standard, with timely scanning of paper records on to EPR as required. • Ensure accurate filing of paper notes and records is maintained as required. • Follow the tracking procedure for the movement of all patient notes (Case Note Tracking). • On an as and when required basis, update patient details on EPR to include ensuring patients that require discharge are processed accordingly. • Actively use and manage the work lists in Revenue Cycle to manage Patients Missing Follow Up and Deferred patient lists • Act upon queries from referrers, patients, and other relevant parties in liaison with clinical staff. Take relevant action to provide reassurance and support to patients and their families by finding appropriate solutions to problems, which requires the ability to understand and explain basic medical procedures and terminology. • Book interpreters for patients prior to appointments and admissions as and when required. • Actively review patient DNAs, liaising with the appropriate clinical staff and reschedule patient appointments in line with agreed local processes. • Adding additional list capacity on EPR as directed by management. • Book patients as required.

Pathway Tracking • To have an excellent working knowledge of the 18 weeks referral to treatment (RTT) rules / Cancer waiting targets / Screening wait times, as required for the job, and use them in conjunction with the OUH Elective Access Policy to proactively manage all patient pathways. • Undertake validation of the 18 week RTT PTLs and contribute to the validation of the cancer PTL where appropriate. Investigate and take appropriate action where pathways are incomplete to ensure that patients are treated in clinical priority and breach date  order and that reporting on performance and waiting times is robust. • Escalate pathway issues if required to the Patient Pathway Team Leader and Service Manager. • Book in clinical priority and breach date order, whilst monitoring the 18 week / Cancer PTLs or screening list to ensure any late additions are identified and processed appropriately. In doing so, take the necessary steps to avoid target breaches and resolve  any issues. • Recognise when patients are on cancer care pathways and proactively link with the MDT Coordinator and MDT Tracker to ensure these patients are actively managed through their diagnosis and treatment. • Ensure Trust systems are updated with patient pathway status information and that data quality is maintained. • Liaise with internal and external colleagues to share patient pathway information and diagnostic information, and expedite patient journeys where needed. • Ensure inter-provider transfers are timely and that the appropriate paperwork has been completed and sent or received. • Co-ordinate appointments and procedures at others hospitals and organisations, where the pathway requires input from these. • Ensure accurate information is added to EPR / Infoflex and other internal and external IT systems and databases, as required. Patient Pathway • Actively review patient DNAs, liaising with the appropriate clinical staff and reschedule patient appointments in line with agreed local processes. • Raising clinic capacity issue to management via the Patient Pathway Team Leader and Service Manager • Adding additional list capacity on EPR as directed by management. • Book patients as required.