Trainee Clinical Coder

Job overview

Are you looking to start an exciting  new career within the NHS, or perhaps change to a different profession within it?

If so, we have posts available within Clinical Coding , a challenging and diverse department based in the University Hospital of Wales.

The principal responsibilities involve accurately extracting diagnoses and procedures from health records, translating them into codes using the ICD-10 and OPCS-4 classifications and inputting them onto the departments encoding software.

Following an 18 month training period, candidates will be eligible to sit an internal assessment and progress from Trainee (band 3) to Clinical Coder (band 4) .

Candidates will also be given the opportunity to work towards achieving the National Clinical Coding Qualification (NCCQ), upon doing so they will become an Accredited Clinical Coder (ACC) and progress to the post of a Qualified Clinical Coder (Band 4).  ACC staff are also eligible to apply for other roles within the department such as Senior Clinical Coder (Band5).

The role is based on site in the University Hospital of Wales (UHW)  and we also offer a flexible working pattern within the department's core hours.

Candidates will also be expected to work some shifts in our University Hospital Llandough (UHL) site coding office on a rota basis, with the option to work there full time once they have completed their training.

Applications that utilise A.I tools such as Chat GPT will not be considered under any circumstances.

Main duties of the job

• Responsible for assigning codes for all diseases, injuries and operative procedures for inpatient/day cases and some outpatient procedures in accordance with national standards.

• Ensure that all codes, diagnostic and operative procedures, are entered on to the encoding software within agreed timescales.

• Be able to work under pressure to meet departmental deadlines.

• To attend all appropriate training courses arranged by Digital Healthcare Wales (DHCW) and to continuously undertake relevant training schemes.

• Ensure that any backlog of missing data is checked and that action to capture data is taken.

• Seek advice if any problems are experienced in assigning meaningful codes.

• Ensure that all inconsistencies in data are promptly referred to a senior coder/mentor.

• To maintain confidentiality at all times.

• To ensure that all admission, transfer and discharge details in the medical record correlate with PMS and to bring to the attention of the relevant ward if not.

• Ensure that incomplete, illegible or incorrect records are referred to the clinician and amended or corrected.

• Cover annual leave and sickness within the coding department.

• To provide cover across all sites.

The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post; English and/or Welsh speakers are equally welcome to apply.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

You will be able to find a full Job description and Person Specification attached within the supporting documents or please click “Apply now” to view in Trac.