Job Description
To assist qualified clinical personnel in the care of practice patients to include treatment, preventative care, screening and patient education. The post will also include some administrative duties. The postholder will act as a focal point of communication between patients, doctors, nurses and other members of the primary health care team and will need to ensure the following:-
1. Nursing
- New patient registration checks, including completing any necessary paperwork and making any necessary claims to the Health Authority and referrals within the practice
- BP monitoring
- Urinalysis
- Phlebotomy
- Assist with childhood and adolescent immunisations maintaining any Child Health and practice records including completing any necessary claims, reporting any problems to the practice manager
- Provide lifestyle advice to patients making any necessary referrals within the practice
- Weight monitoring
- Ensure specimens are labelled and bagged ready for collection with the necessary paperwork completed
- Ensure clinical waste collection runs smoothly, reporting any problems to the nurse manager
- Ensure sharps bins are ready for collection
- Restocking/maintenance of equipment
- Restocking of clinical areas and consulting rooms
2. Administration and professional responsibilities
- Participate in the administrative and professional responsibilities of the practice team
- Ensure accurate and legible notes of all consultations and treatments are recorded in the patient’s notes accurately
- Ensure the clinical computer system is kept up to date with accurate details recorded
- Ensure appropriate items of service claims are made accurately, reporting any problems to the Practice manager
- Ensure accurate completion of all necessary documentation associated with patient health care and registration with the practice
- Ensure collection and maintenance of statistical information required for regular and ad hoc reports
- Attend and participate in practice meetings as required
- Assist in formulation of practice philosophy, strategy and policy
- Restocking and maintenance of clinical areas and consulting rooms
- To create and send recall letters for clinics
- To assist in seasonal and special projects as requested e.g. flu campaign
- Ordering and display of health promotion materials
3. Management of medical records
- Ensure that paper records are accurately assembled in advance of each consulting session
- Ensure that paper records are available in the instances of urgent consultation
- Retrieve and re-file records as requested, ensuring that strict alphabetical order is adhered to
- Ensure correspondence, reports, results etc. are filed in correct records, either electronically or in paper form
4. Management of appointment system
- Ensure total familiarity with all appointment systems including regular and incidental variations
- Book appointments and recalls ensuring sufficient information is recorded as reason for appointment
- Monitor flow of patients into the waiting room ensuring the appointment system accurately reflects the arrival of patients i.e. assist with logging in where it is an issue
- Monitor effectiveness of the system and report any problems or variations to the manager
5. Any other delegated duties considered appropriate to the post
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE POST
- An understanding, acceptance and adherence to the need for strict confidentiality
- An ability to use own judgement, resourcefulness, common sense and local knowledge, to respond to patients enquiries and requests while adhering to practice limitations
- An understanding and acceptance of ones capabilities and awareness of own limitations
- Ability to work without direct supervision and determine own workload priorities
- Basic keyboard and computer skills
- Flexibility of working hours
- Excellent communication skills
Health & Safety:
The post-holder will implement and lead on a full range of promotion and management their own and others’ health and safety and infection control as defined in the practice Health & Safety policy, the practice Health & Safety manual, and the practice Infection Control policy and published procedures. This will include (but will not be limited to):
- Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines
- Awareness of national standards of infection control and cleanliness and regulatory / contractual / professional requirements, and good practice guidelines
- Responsible for the correct and safe management of the specimens process including collection, labelling, handling, use of correct and clean containers, storage and transport arrangements
- Management and maintenance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the practice including provision, ordering, availability and ongoing correct usage by staff
- Responsible for hand hygiene across the practice
- Co-ownership of infection control along with the Practice nurse and clinically based patient care protocols and implementation of those protocols across the practice
- Active observation of current working practices across the practice in relation to infection control, cleanliness and related activities, ensuring that procedures are followed and weaknesses / training needs are identified, escalating issues as appropriate
- Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks across clinical and patient process
- Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills, and initiate and manage the training of others across the full range of infection control and patient processes
- Monitoring practice facilities and equipment in relation to infection control, ensuring that provision of hand cleansing facilities, wipes etc. are sufficient to ensure a good clinical working environment. Lack of facilities to be escalated as appropriate.
- Safe management of sharps procedures including training, use, storage and disposal
- Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy, clean and sterile, and safe way, free from hazards. Initiation of remedial / corrective action where needed or escalation to responsible management
- Actively identifying, reporting, and correction of health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised
- Keeping own work areas and general / patient areas generally clean, sterile, identifying issues and hazards / risks in relation to other work areas within the business, and assuming responsibility in the maintenance of general standards of cleanliness across the business in consultation (where appropriate) with other sector managers
- Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum twice annually)
- Routine management of own team / team areas, and maintenance of work space standards
- Waste management including collection, handling, segregation, container management, storage and collection
- Spillage control procedures, management and training
- Decontamination control procedures, management and training, and equipment maintenance
- Maintenance of sterile environments
Equality and diversity:
The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:
- Acting in a way that recognises the importance of people’s rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation
- Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues
- Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.
Quality:
The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:
- Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk
- Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision
- Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the team’s performance
- Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients’ needs
- Effectively manage own time, workload and resources
Communication:
The post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:
- Communicate effectively with other team members
- Communicate effectively with patients and carers
- Recognize people’s needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly
Contribution to the implementation of services:
The post-holder will:
- Apply practice policies, standards and guidance
- Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work
- Participate in audits, where appropriate
Job Type: Part-time
Part-time hours: 22.5 per week
Salary: £16,380.00-£18,700.00 per year
Benefits:
Schedule:
Ability to commute/relocate:
- London: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Work Location: One location
Application deadline: 17/03/2023
Expected start date: 03/04/2023