Receptionist, Administrative​/Clerical

Overview

County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 06 March 2026

An exciting opportunity has arisen within our Reception Team based at Bishop Auckland Hospital.

Working 30 hours per week as part of our reception team, you will be responsible for the provision of a high standard reception service within the outpatient departments.

You will be educated to 5 GCSE Level or NVQ Level 2 in Business & Administration or Customer Service and have relevant experience within a busy office environment. Previous NHS experience and knowledge of Patient Administration Systems would be advantageous but is not essential.

The ability to work under pressure both individually and as part of a team is important to ensure that deadlines are met. Good organisational and interpersonal skills are essential in order to be able to achieve this. Excellent customer service skills are essential for this role.

The successful candidate will be based at Bishop Auckland Hospital but may be required to work at other sites within the Trust, if necessary.

You will be responsible for the reception of patients and visitors to the Outpatient Department. This includes arriving patients for their appointments, arranging any future appointments taking into account clinic rules, urgent/routine ratios and working with clinical staff to achieve patient satisfaction. You will also liaise with GP's, hospital staff and other professional bodies to ensure smooth running of the department.

To ensure that any enquiries are dealt with in a prompt, responsive and courteous manner at all times to ensure patients are satisfied with the service provided by the Reception Team and to ensure the Trust is portrayed in a positive manner.

You will be required to work weekends and bank holidays on a rota system to cover adhoc clinics

If you are being interviewed you must accept an interview slot in the system to continue, even if you have arranged with the manager.

You must be able to produce ALL certificates stated essential in the person specification or you will not be able to complete pre-employment checks.

We provide hospital services from two acute sites - Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham. We have a centre for planned care in Bishop Auckland and provide care from community hospitals in Chester-le-Street, Shotley Bridge, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield and Weardale as well as over 80 other community based settings and providing care in patients' homes.

We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME and disabled people are currently under-represented.

Full Job Description s can be found in the adverts supporting documents.

From April 9th 2025 - Healthcare assistants - You must have been employed for a minimum of two years as a HCA Band 3 within the NHS for the Trust to consider sponsorship (we will only consider sponsorship if you meet this criteria and have a current visa expiring within 3 months).

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Responsible for the reception of patients and visitors to the Outpatients Department and all reception duties concerned e.g. sorting post/ filing / stock monitoring / photocopying / delivery checks.
• Responsible for the timely and accurate clinic management of appointments & waiting list on the Patient Administration System, implement time surveys on the waiting times of clinics as required and have a basic knowledge of medical terminology to allow further appointments to be arranged
• Responsible for registering new patients on the computerised Patient Administration System ensuring data is retrieved and recorded accurately as the information is fed to other systems within the hospital.
• Ensure patients, relatives; employers of and visitors to the Trust are greeted courteously and promptly upon arrival at the Trusts reception desk.
• Responsibility for checking the location of patients using the Trusts computerised Patient Administration System
• Liaise with all departments within the Trust to resolve queries from visitors or telephone calls
• To generate and send out letters to patients inviting them to contact the department to make an outpatient appointment (Partial Booking), taking account of clinic rules, urgent/routine ratios, cancelled clinics and specified return timescales for review patients and if no response a letter is sent to the patients GP and the referral is cancelled from the Patient Administrative System to allow best utilization of outpatient clinic appointment slots and ensure no wasted capacity if patients do not respond.
• To receive telephone calls from patients in response to invitations sent by the department, booking appointments in accordance with consultant directives/clinic rules, timescales etc. and send Out Patient appointment letter to confirm these arrangements to allow patients to choose a date/time of appointment at their convenience (as per national guidance).
• To…