Clinical Administrator

Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism and community based services for the populations we serve.

As an integrated mental health, learning disability and community Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including:

1. Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, forensic services including low and medium secure care.
2. Specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
3. Community physical health and well-being services for children and adults.

The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,000 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health and general nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers.

Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust supports flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as; term time, part time, compressed hours, home/remote working, and flexi-time.

For more information visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT.

Please note that further communication from Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCft) will normally be to the email address given on the application form. You should also ensure that email addresses and telephone numbers are provided for your referees, to enable LSCft to contact them.

Job overview

The post holder(s) will provide a comprehensive administration and information service across the Community & Wellbeing Network, coordinating their activities with other members of the Business Administration Team to ensure that an efficient and confidential service is provided.

The post holder will be aligned to the Minerva & Fulwood Park Admin Hub based at the Minerva Health Centre on Reception and in Medical Records and is required to work flexibly in response to the needs of the Locality's administrative service. They may be required to provide Reception and clinical admin cover at other clinics and health centres in the Preston locality as directed by their administration line manager, to ensure continuity of a quality reception and admin service provision.

The post holder will have a good standard of education with qualifications in English, Maths and Word Processing. Excellent computer skills are required. One of the primary purposes of this role is to provide a comprehensive reception and administration service and therefore administration experience is essential in order to provide a professional service to the clinical teams.

Main duties of the job

1. Be the first point of contact for the unit/department. Greeting visitors and ensuring people sign in and are met by staff or directed to the right area as appropriate.
2. Provide reception duties.
3. Answer telephones, taking and forwarding messages, ensuring that all telephone and personal callers receive a prompt, courteous, non-judgmental and well-informed response.
4. Respond to queries, dealing with routine matters and passing more complex queries to the appropriate member of staff.
5. Receive, allocate and despatch departmental mail (internal and external).
6. Provide an administrative service to include typing of routine information such as reports, minutes and other correspondence on behalf of the manager and other members of the team, ensuring a high standard in accordance with Trust standards.

Working for our organisation

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of services including secondary mental health care across this area. Specialist provision comprises inpatient child and adolescent mental health services, perinatal mental health and forensic services including low and medium secure care.

The Trust also provides a range of physical health and well-being services in the community alongside a range of partners in the Lancashire, Cumbria and Sefton area.

For more information, please visit our website via Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS FT.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1. Assist the running of an efficient appointments system, dealing with routine referrals, sending patient letters / information, text reminders, distributing to appropriate clinical team.
2. Assist in the administration processes for clinical education programmes for patients and training events for staff and partners.
3. Contact patients who fail to attend appointments by telephone, email, text or letter, rescheduling appointments as necessary.
4. Communicate with GPs and other Health Professionals regarding patients who have accessed the service e.g. confirming receipt of referral, clarifying referral details, chasing biochemistry results or other diagnostics and informing on waiting times or onward referrals.
5. Work collaboratively with the appropriate management teams and other departments including clinicians to ensure that all appropriate leads are notified in case of matters of urgency and dealt with in a timely manner.
6. Attend and participate in team meetings and administrative service meetings as required as part of the smooth running of an integrated team base service approach.

Please see the job description and person specification for more details on this role.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Administrative qualification at NVQ Level 2/RSA 2 or equivalent experience
• Education/qualifications Administrative qualification at NVQ Level 2/RSA 2 or equivalent experience GCSE English Language A-C ECDL or equivalent experience Application form
• ECDL or equivalent experience

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Working with databases
• Working with Microsoft Office applications

Desirable criteria

• Working with NHS data systems such as RiO, iPM, eCPA

Experience

Essential criteria

• Working in an office Environment
• Working with members of the public

Desirable criteria

• Working in the NHS Working in a customer services environment

Skills and Abilities

Essential criteria

• Good grammar and numeracy skills
• Excellent keyboard skills Data input and retrieval

Desirable criteria

• Good organisational skills
• Ability to communicate effectively both written & verbal

Personal qualities

Essential criteria

• Excellent telephone manner
• Treats people with courtesy and respect at all times

Work related

Essential criteria

• Willingness to undertake CRB clearances
• Ability to work flexibly and comply with all requirements of post
• Willingness to travel around the organisational footprint

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Please be aware, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) when submitting an application is monitored and if you have used AI to generate an application, you are required to declare this on your application form. Failure to do so, may result in your application being withdrawn.

We want to highlight the importance of integrity and authenticity in your application form, and ask you to use AI tools responsibly to ensure your application form is a true reflection of your skills, knowledge and experiences.

Please ensure that you read the person specification attached below as your application will be measured against this document.

Applications from job share partners are welcome and other forms of flexible working will be considered for all posts.

For all posts which require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check please be aware of the Disclosure and Barring Service Code of Practice, a copy of which is available by logging on to the DBS website. If the post is subject to DBS disclosure, a charge will be made to the successful candidate(s).

You are advised to consider applying for LSCft vacancies as soon as possible as in some instances vacancies are closed as soon as a sufficient number of applications have been received. If you are not invited to interview within three weeks of the closing date then please assume that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful, as it is not possible to contact all unsuccessful candidates.

LSCft is committed to celebrating difference as an asset and we know that recruiting talent from diverse backgrounds helps to create a more flexible, creative and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from people regardless of age, disability (particularly those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion or belief or sexual orientation. Our goal is for the Trust to be truly representative of the communities we serve so we are particularly keen to receive applications from people in under-represented groups. If there is anything you'd like to discuss in relation to your application then please ask.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Application numbers

This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. You are therefore advised to consider applying for this vacancy as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Documents to download

• JDPS-CEN2237-TG (PDF, 464.4KB)
• NHS Staff Benefits - 2023 (PDF, 556.9KB)
• We Do More at LSCFT (PDF, 654.2KB)