Specialist Booking Officer, Band 3- Central Booking Office

NHS

  • Gloucester
  • £24,937-26,598 per year
  • Permanent
  • Full-time
  • 7 days ago
Provide a county-wide outpatient appointment booking service for patients and clinicians, ensuring adherence to wait time targets and optimal use of available capacity.Monitor referrals, identify issues, and take appropriate actions to ensure efficient referral management.Manage clinic rescheduling, prioritising clinical needs, and liaising directly with services or consultants to address capacity challenges.Oversee follow-up appointments via waiting lists, ensuring clinical priorities are consistently maintained.Make informed decisions on adjusting template capacity to balance clinical priorities with wait time targets.Deliver a supportive and responsive service tailored to individual patient needs, particularly for those facing barriers to understanding.Ensure accurate and timely data collection and advise the management team on capacity imbalances, suggesting potential solutions where necessary.Main duties of the jobMonitor and manage waiting lists across county-wide sites to meet Trust and clinical targets.Maintain and oversee the e-RS system, ensuring data accuracy and swiftly resolving errors.Provide patients, relatives, and carers with a supportive, informative, and efficient service.Optimize clinic capacity/ suggesting adjustment of schedules to balance new and follow-up appointments within clinical and wait-time constraints.Allocate specialty capacity effectively, considering the clinical abilities and specialisms of the team, making decisions to balance capacity and demand for optimal resource use.Supply service managers with timely reports on capacity shortfalls and recommend reallocation solutions.Process referral letters promptly, liaising with GPs and consultants as required.Manage the accurate and timely cancellation and rescheduling of clinics and appointments.Identify and escalate internal or external process issues affecting the Central Booking Office to the appropriate team.Adhere to all CBO and Trust policies and procedures.Employ tactful, persuasive communication to encourage attendance, especially with anxious or distressed patients.Prioritize and manage your workload to ensure all tasks are completed within required timeframes.Undertake additional duties as directed by the Line Manager.Provide departmental coverage during periods of absence or annual leave.About usWe take pride in placing people at the centre of everything we do, working together as a united team. Driven by a shared ambition to continually grow, develop, and learn, we recognise and value every contribution. By combining our experience and skills, we not only support our vibrant, diverse communities, but also support one another.With a team of over 9,000 employees, we are proud to be the largest employer in Gloucestershire and rank among the top 10 largest Trusts in the South West region. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from an excellent package that includes exclusive benefits, flexible working opportunities and the chance to gain valuable experience in one of our innovative hospitals. As well as generous annual leave allowance, access to the excellent NHS pension scheme, competitive bank rates, discounts at local shops and restaurants, access to two on-site nurseries, discounted public transport, reward and recognition and a range of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.The Central Booking Office (CBO) comprises 80+ staff, including Management, Lead Supervisors, Supervisors, Booking Specialists and the Admin & Phone team. Upon completion of training, there may be an opportunity to join the hybrid working rota.DetailsDate posted28 August 2025Pay schemeAgenda for changeBandBand 3Salary£24,937 to £26,598 a year (pa pro rata if part-time)ContractPermanentWorking patternFull-timeReference number318-25-T0494Job locationsGloucestershire Royal HospitalGloucesterGL1 3NNJob descriptionJob responsibilitiesEfficiently monitor and maintain waiting lists, ensuring adherence to Trust and clinical targets for all sites on a county wide basis.Effectively monitor and maintain the e-RS system ensure accuracy of data, identification and resolution of system errors.Provide an efficient, supportive and informative service to patients, relatives and carers.Effective use of county wide clinic capacity to ensure optimum use involving decisions on flexing clinic capacity to meet new and follow-up clinical and wait time constraints.Effective use of specialty capacity taking account of varying clinical abilities and clinical specialisms within the clinical teams. Involving decisions to achieve capacity versus demand balance and most effective use of available capacity.Using knowledge and experience to provide service managers with timely information to enable action on capacity shortfalls and giving opinions/recommendations on reallocation of capacity as appropriate.Manage timely and efficient processing of referral letters, progress chasing with GPs and consultants as necessary.Timely and accurate cancellation of clinics and appropriate re-scheduling of appointments.Identifying issues with both internal and external processes that may impact the work of the CBO, escalating to the relevant staff members.Follow numerous CBO and trust wide processes and policies.Using tact and persuasion to encourage patients who may be highly anxious or distressed to attend for procedures which they often hold negative misconceptions and unrealistic expectations.Assess incoming enquiries or unexpected events and decide on appropriate and timely course of action. Decision making on booking appointment appropriately. Job descriptionJob responsibilitiesEfficiently monitor and maintain waiting lists, ensuring adherence to Trust and clinical targets for all sites on a county wide basis.Effectively monitor and maintain the e-RS system ensure accuracy of data, identification and resolution of system errors.Provide an efficient, supportive and informative service to patients, relatives and carers.Effective use of county wide clinic capacity to ensure optimum use involving decisions on flexing clinic capacity to meet new and follow-up clinical and wait time constraints.Effective use of specialty capacity taking account of varying clinical abilities and clinical specialisms within the clinical teams. Involving decisions to achieve capacity versus demand balance and most effective use of available capacity.Using knowledge and experience to provide service managers with timely information to enable action on capacity shortfalls and giving opinions/recommendations on reallocation of capacity as appropriate.Manage timely and efficient processing of referral letters, progress chasing with GPs and consultants as necessary.Timely and accurate cancellation of clinics and appropriate re-scheduling of appointments.Identifying issues with both internal and external processes that may impact the work of the CBO, escalating to the relevant staff members.Follow numerous CBO and trust wide processes and policies.Using tact and persuasion to encourage patients who may be highly anxious or distressed to attend for procedures which they often hold negative misconceptions and unrealistic expectations.Assess incoming enquiries or unexpected events and decide on appropriate and timely course of action. Decision making on booking appointment appropriately.Person SpecificationQualificationsEssential
  • Evidence of basic schooling/Education (GCSE) with English, Mathematics or Equivalent
Desirable
  • Professional customer care skills equating to NVQ level 3
ExperienceEssential
  • NHS experience
  • Experience of working in customer care/ call centre environment
Desirable
  • Knowledge of medical terminology
Knowledge/ SkillsEssential
  • Good communication skills, written and verbal
  • Good IT skills and a high level of proficiency in Microsoft office
  • Excellent organisational skills
  • Keyboard skills equivalent to RSA 3
  • Ability to learn various IT systems and use them alongside each other
  • Ability to work as a part of a multidisciplinary environment
Person SpecificationQualificationsEssential
  • Evidence of basic schooling/Education (GCSE) with English, Mathematics or Equivalent
Desirable
  • Professional customer care skills equating to NVQ level 3
ExperienceEssential
  • NHS experience
  • Experience of working in customer care/ call centre environment
Desirable
  • Knowledge of medical terminology
Knowledge/ SkillsEssential
  • Good communication skills, written and verbal
  • Good IT skills and a high level of proficiency in Microsoft office
  • Excellent organisational skills
  • Keyboard skills equivalent to RSA 3
  • Ability to learn various IT systems and use them alongside each other
  • Ability to work as a part of a multidisciplinary environment

NHS