Receptionist / Practice Administrator

Deal with face-to-face enquiries and provide information about practice services and procedures. Assist patients who may be anxious, distressed, frustrated or unwell.

Signpost patients to the most appropriate service or member of the practice team in line with practice procedures. Maintain patient privacy and confidentiality at all times.

Support patients who may have communication or accessibility needs. Help maintain a safe, organised and welcoming reception environment.

Answer incoming calls promptly and professionally. Establish the nature of the patient's request and ensure it is handled appropriately.

Book, amend and cancel appointments. Take accurate messages and forward them to the appropriate person.

Recognise potentially urgent requests and escalate them in accordance with practice procedures. Provide appropriate information regarding appointments, prescriptions, referrals and other practice services.

Remain calm and professional when dealing with difficult or sensitive conversations. Book appointments with GPs, nurses, healthcare assistants and other members of the multidisciplinary team.

Ensure appointments are booked into the correct clinic and appointment type. Follow practice procedures for urgent, same-day and routine requests.

Assist with changes to clinician appointment books and contact patients when appointments need to be rearranged. Support the effective use of appointments by directing patients to the most appropriate service.

Monitor and process eConsult and other online consultation requests. Direct requests to the appropriate clinician or administrative team.

Identify requests that may require prompt attention and escalate appropriately. Contact patients where further administrative information is required.

Ensure requests are processed within practice timescales. Record relevant information accurately within the patient's clinical record.

Support patients who require assistance using online services. Avoid making clinical decisions outside the scope of the role.

The postholder will use SystmOne as the practice's main clinical and administrative system. Duties will include: Accessing patient records appropriately.

Updating demographic and contact details. Booking and amending appointments.

Recording accurate administrative information. Processing electronic tasks and messages.

Creating and managing tasks for clinicians and colleagues. Uploading and filing documents and correspondence.

Recording patient communication accurately. Maintaining high standards of data quality.

Ensuring information is entered against the correct patient record. Following practice procedures for workflow and document management.

Process administrative requests from patients, clinicians and external organisations. Deal with incoming and outgoing correspondence.

Scan, upload, file and distribute documents appropriately. Process emails and electronic communications.

Complete routine administrative tasks accurately and within required timescales. Maintain accurate records and filing systems.

Assist with forms, letters and practice documentation. Support the administration of clinics and other practice services.

Provide cover and assistance to colleagues during busy periods and staff absence. Depending on training and allocation of duties, the postholder may: Process incoming hospital and community correspondence.

Forward documents to the appropriate clinician. Complete administrative actions arising from correspondence.

Process electronic tasks generated by clinicians. Ensure correspondence is attached to the correct patient record.

Identify information requiring urgent clinical attention and escalate appropriately. Follow agreed practice document management procedures.

Within practice procedures, the postholder may: Receive repeat prescription requests. Explain prescription processes and expected timescales.

Direct medication queries to the appropriate clinician or pharmacy team. Process administrative elements of prescription requests.

Escalate urgent medication concerns appropriately. The postholder must not provide clinical medication advice.

Deal with patient enquiries regarding test results in accordance with practice procedures. Communicate only information authorised for release to the patient.

Arrange follow-up appointments or actions where instructed by a clinician. Escalate any uncertainty regarding a result to an appropriate clinician.

Maintain confidentiality when discussing results. Assist with administrative aspects of referrals.

Respond to patient enquiries regarding referral progress. Direct queries to the appropriate team.

Process information received from hospitals and community services. Escalate urgent referral-related correspondence promptly.

Maintain accurate records of actions taken. Process new patient registrations.

Check registration information for completeness and accuracy. Update patient demographic details.

Process changes of address and contact information. Support patients with access to online services.

Follow practice procedures regarding patient record access. The postholder must: Maintain confidentiality at all times.

Access patient records only where required for their role. Comply with UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act and NHS information governance requirements.

Follow practice policies on confidentiality and information security. Take care when discussing sensitive information by telephone, email or in person.

Report any suspected confidentiality or data breach immediately. Complete safeguarding training appropriate to the role.

Be alert to potential safeguarding concerns. Escalate safeguarding concerns promptly to the appropriate clinician or safeguarding lead.

Report patient safety concerns, errors and near misses. Follow practice procedures for significant events and incident reporting.

Work closely with GPs, nurses, healthcare assistants, pharmacists, managers and administrative colleagues. Communicate professionally with hospitals, pharmacies and other external organisations.

Attend meetings and training where required. Share relevant information appropriately.

Support colleagues during periods of annual leave, sickness or high workload. Contribute to a positive and respectful working environment.

Listen calmly and respectfully to patient concerns. Resolve straightforward service queries where appropriate.

Escalate complaints to the appropriate manager. Follow the practice complaints procedure.

Seek assistance where behaviour becomes abusive, threatening or unsafe. The postholder will be expected to: Complete practice induction and mandatory training.

Undertake training in SystmOne, eConsult and other relevant systems. Participate in appraisal and performance review.

Keep knowledge and skills relevant to the role up to date. Undertake additional training as the role develops.

General practice continues to evolve and responsibilities may change over time. The postholder will be expected to undertake other reasonable duties appropriate to the nature and level of the role.

This job description is intended as a guide to the main responsibilities of the post and is not exhaustive.