Dental Booking Officer

We welcome applications from the Armed Forces Community - get in touch to find out more

PLEASE NOTE: We are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role.

Main duties of the job

• To provide a comprehensive and confidential service, working within the Booking team in accordance with Departmental, Trust and National standards, policies and procedures.
• The post holder will work within a small team within the Booking Office, providing a comprehensive efficient and effective appointment booking service for Warwickshire Special Care Dental Service outpatient and day case appointments, in order to meet the Trust and local patient waiting time targets.
• To provide an admissions service from within the booking team and to be responsible for management of own workload. The post holder is required to develop and maintain an up-to-date knowledge of all services to enable the post holder to deal with problems, cases and related queries.

Job responsibilities

• The post holder will be required to provide and receive complex or sensitive information to patients and staff at Warwickshire Special Care Dental Service.
• Exchange information with patients/carers/guardians and staff on admissions, transfer and discharge of patients both verbally and in written format.
• Communicating with anxious patients, dental phobic and patients with cultural or language differences.
• Liaise regularly with clinical staff to establish future clinic profiles ensuring that demand is met and to maintain a consistent volume of new patient slots. This will involve blocking sessions and reserving appointment slots according to clinical requests.
• Close liaison with all disciplines of staff, both internal and external, i.e. admin and clerical staff, clinical staff, nursing staff, and communication will be necessary with general practitioners and patients/carers. This may also include direct face to face contact.
• The post holder will support the service on national booking projects, i.e. 18 weeks wait.
• Booking appointments within the specified guidelines for all patients, adhering to the booking system (i.e. partial/full booking) and Government targets and requirements.
• Meeting performance standards relating to the answering of calls and related tasks within the service. This will involve answering the telephone in a courteous and pleasant manner, within the agreed times, at all times and to deal professionally with all queries in line with service guidelines and action them accordingly.
• Ensuring all referral letters are registered on the R4 system within 24 hours of receipt within office. The post holder will be responsible for collecting missing demographic details and contacting the referring practitioners or patient directly to complete the registration. This is important to ensure all patients are booked within government waiting times to ensure breaches of targets do not occur.
• Required to use judgement when booking patients in chronological order and escalating to the Booking and Access Team Leader for resolution.
• Ensuring that all the operational procedures and codes of conduct are clearly adhered to and updated appropriately in line with guidance from the Booking and Access Team Leader.

Experience and Knowledge

• Excellent organisational skills
• Previous administration experience
• Previous Customer Service experience, working within a customer focused setting

Qualification(s) and Professional Training

• Competent user of MS Word, Excel and Access
• Minimum of 4 GCSE's or equivalent, to include English Language and Mathematics.

Skills and Abilities

• Ability to work as a member of a team
• Ability to follow tasks through to completion
• Ability to work under pressure
• Microsoft Office Specialist Training (MOST) or equivalent knowledge and experience
• Ability to use own initiative to prioritise workload in a methodical approach to work
• Ability to suggest and implement new procedures

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Warwickshire Special Care Dental Service, Whitnash Lodge, Leamington Hospital