Therapies Administrator

Main area Administration Grade NHS AfC: Band 3 Contract Permanent Hours 22.5 hours per week (Part time - 22.5 hours per week) Job ref 282-SA1839

Employer The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site The Royal Marsden Chelsea Town Chelsea Salary £31,554 - £33,270 Per Annum Pro Rata Salary period Yearly Closing 10/09/:59

Job overview

This cross-site administrator post is essential to the safe and effective day-to-day delivery of the Lymphoedema service and the wider Therapies department. The postholder provides critical administrative support including appointment scheduling, management of telephone and email enquiries, clinical correspondence, reception cover and the distribution of compression garments to patients across both sites.
The role enables clinical staff to focus on direct patient care rather than administrative tasks. Without this support, a significant proportion of clinician time would be diverted away from patient-facing activity, reducing clinical capacity, increasing waiting times and negatively impacting patient experience.
This requirement is particularly acute at present as the Lymphoedema team is carrying vacancies of more than 1.0 WTE qualified therapists. Administrative support is therefore essential to maintain service continuity, maximise the productivity of the remaining clinical workforce and mitigate further impacts on waiting lists and patient access to treatment.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will provide a customer focused service for all patients and visitors attending or passing through the Therapy Services Department. The post holder will be responsible for efficient and effective administrative support to the Therapy Services teams including dealing with all phone enquiries, inputting relevant data onto the Epic system and supporting the clinical teams.
Patients will be accessing various therapy treatments including Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Dietetics, Speech & Language Therapy, Lymphoedema, Complementary Therapies and Appliances

Working for our organisation

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a world-leading cancer centre. Our role is to offer our patients the best cancer care available anywhere in the world, and to continue to make a global contribution to finding better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. We employ over 4,500 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals - one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey - as well as a Medical Daycare Unit in Kingston Hospital.

At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That's why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.

At the heart of the hospital is our dedicated team. We offer a stimulating and dynamic working environment, a wide range of staff benefits, learning and development opportunities and clear career pathways. There are opportunities to work flexibly across a range of areas and specialities and we welcome flexible working requests from point of hire to support employees work life balance. We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our on-going achievements.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information on this role, please see the attached detailed Job Description and Person Specification

• The post holder will assess and prioritise competing appointment requests, identify urgent cases based on agreed criteria, and use judgement to resolve scheduling conflicts within established parameters.
• Ensuring urgent referrals are prioritised and all available appointment slots are fully utilised.
• To manage clinic cancellations and rescheduling within agreed timescales.
• To highlight to the Therapy Service Leads any issues with appointment lead times and clinic capacity.
• To undertake the full range of reception duties for the Therapies outpatient department. This will include assisting patients whilst checking in, out-coming appointments and rebooking appointments with the patient.
• To answer telephone enquiries in a professional and courteous manner and where possible resolve the caller's enquiry, frequently dealing with patients or relatives who may be upset, distressed or frustrated due to delays or illness, requiring resilience and sensitivity. Pass messages to the appropriate team member in a timely manner.

Person specification Education/Qualifications

• GCSE 3 x grade C's and above including Mathematics and English or equivalent experience
• Basic knowledge of and ability to use standard software
• Evidence of previous reception / secretarial experience

Experience

• Ability to work individually and as part of a team
• Self-motivated to produce good quality work
• The ability and initiative to prioritise a busy workload
• Demonstrable evidence of personal and professional development
• Previous NHS or Healthcare Experience

Skills Abilities/knowledge

• The ability to communicate effectively in both written and spoken English to a wide range of people
• Ability to remain calm when under pressure and cope with unanticipated demands
• Ability to handle sensitive information without compromising confidentiality or trust
• Knowledge of a computerised patient administration system

Other Requirements

• Flexibility to meet the needs of the service (e.g. shift work)
• Able to work on both sites and to be flexible to meet the needs of the role

The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment. Please ensure your information is accurate to avoid errors with processing your application

All applicants will be contacted by email to the address supplied on your application. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly and to ensure that email filters are set to allow our emails.

Flu Vaccination - What We Expect of our Staff

At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.

The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

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.