Radiotherapy Booking Coordinator

Job overview

This post offers a unique opportunity to play a key role in the radiotherapy service. The post holder will be an integral part of the administrative team, booking all appointments associated with the RT pathway (including both NHS and private), coordinating the different elements to ensure they are booked in the appropriate order and within the appropriate timeframe. The RT patient pathway is complex and requires careful management to achieve good patient outcomes, therefore, the successful candidate will need to be organised and have good communication skills. As the first point of contact many patients will have with the service, this position will play a key role in providing a good patient experience. A vast majority of RT patients will be travelling in from different parts of the country this role will ensure their needs are met by booking accommodation, transport and interpreters if required.  In order to ensure an efficient RT patient pathway they will also need to effectively communicate with a full MDT which includes radiographers, clinical oncologists, health play specialists and the radiotherapy physics team. In addition, they will be required to liaise with staff from referring Trusts and other organisations such as those who provide patient accommodation

Main duties of the job

Working with the RT Administrative team the postholder will provide a high-quality administrative service to all patients, carers and referring practitioners accessing RT services. The postholder will book all appointments associated with the RT pathway, coordinating the different elements to ensure they are booked in the appropriate order and within the appropriate timeframe. They will ensure effective current and on-going systems for processing and booking patient appointments throughout the RT department. They will provide a highly supportive service to patients coming to the RT department and liaise effectively with patients to provide streamlined RT pathways. The postholder will work as dedicated radiotherapy MDT pathway coordinators particularly for the SABR MDT provide admin support for the pre-planning meetings as well as supporting the receptionists/planning coordinators team. They will also support the delivery of performance targets including activity and Cancer Waiting Times. As a key member of the RT team, they will be based onsite and will work closely with the wider RT clinical team.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Results Areas  •    To manage a very diverse patient workload and throughput. To register patients and book all necessary RT appointments for patients on the appropriate computer system with reference to departmental protocols with an understanding of, and a commitment to, the smooth running of the RT patient pathway.

• Coordinate the booking of appointments across a number of different areas both internally and externally to ensure a good patient experience. This will include working with the referring trust, the outpatient teams, and coordinating their pre-planning appointments and RT treatments. For patients who do not live in the local area accommodation will also need to be booked in conjunction with these appointments.
• To work with the private patient service to ensure that their patients have a smooth pathway into the service and that appointments are booked at appropriate times.
• To liaise with senior/superintendent planning radiographers to ensure that all booking forms are reviewed and an appropriate template selected.  To prioritise booking forms according to protocols.  To liaise with doctors regarding other treatment modalities such as surgery, chemotherapy, palliative care and others.
• To coordinate patient appointments and liaise with Planning, Physics, and Treatment areas.  To demonstrate knowledge of medical terminology to decide on the appropriate patient pathway.
• To maintain a positive professional relationship with the Oncology Multi-Discipline team.
• To raise queries on booking forms with medical staff and radiographers. To maintain the smooth running of the patient pathway, by exchanging medical and other information on patient treatment and facilitating any changes.  To ensure that machine and other schedules are utilised efficiently.
• To resolve complaints, enquiries, and requests from patients and to liaise with appropriate members of the multi-discipline team in dealing with these. To communicate effectively with those affected by cancer, chronic illness and bereavement. To deal with stress, aggression and hostility from patients, relatives, and friends in a professional manner.  To anticipate and recognise barriers to communication, and issue resolution, whilst respecting the patients’ equality, diversity, mental health and human rights. To resolve queries and changes to patient appointments in conjunction with medical, senior radiography, senior Medical Physics staff and the A&C team.
• To organise and maintain precise record keeping providing details of each individual patients position within the patient pathway for use by the multi-discipline team. To communicate information in accordance with and in a manner that is consistent with relevant legislation, policies and procedures. To monitor the processing of all RT bookings forms and draw to the attention of the RT Services Manager and the other superintendents any problems and delays.
• To provide ongoing statistics and performance status information for the Quality Assurance Team and other members of the department senior staff. To participate in audits at the request of the Quality Assurance manager.
• To constantly review, streamline and update the protocols, in order to improve delivery to patients and to ‘trial’ these changes. To liaise with each department section to review and update protocols. To supervise any change implemented to the booking system. To contribute to and participate in the review of systems, policies and procedures in order to influence departmental changes.
• To effectively train and provide information to others in the A&C team in order to maintain the workflow of the department during periods such as annual leave. Ensure cover staff are trained to effectively communicate, referring patients’ questions and issues to designated staff if they fall out of the scope of practice of the post holder.
• To provide supervisory support for the RT Receptionist/planning coordinators and to deputise for the RT Admin, Clerical and Bookings Team Manager when required.
• To disseminate to A&C and other radiotherapy staff training and experience to support them in their development and to assist their work demands. To update and maintain knowledge of relevant legislation, policies and procedures and to continuously improve skills through appraisal, supervision and training. To participate in all aspects of relevant KSF and PDR procedures.
• To communicate with patients and their families, informing them of their appointments and responding to queries. Due to the nature of the treatment, and that many patients will be travelling in from a wide geographical area, they will need to have good interpersonal skills, with the ability to reassure and support patients who have concerns, and to liaise with them to ensure we have met their needs. To keep patients updated in the run up to their appointments.
• Adhere to the Trust’s Dress Code policy and ensure a smart and professional appearance at all times.