Private Patient Liaison Officer
Job overview
This is an exciting opportunity to join our new Private Patient services at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital under Chelsea and Westminster Foundation Trust within the Private Patient Unit.
We are looking for someone to join our committed team providing excellent patient experience and embracing the Trust values. We are looking for an experienced administrator with a passion for exceeding patient expectation and ability to deliver a 5 star service to all patients within the Private Patient Unit.Successful candidates will work at the Chelsea site, supporting the implementation of Private Care services .
You should have a friendly patient centric approach and will need to be able to remain calm and approachable in a very busy private patient business office. You should possess excellent people and time management skills so as to be able to provide an optimum level of customer service to patients, both in person and over the telephone, and also to other users of the service.A flexible approach is also required as there will be a need to work different shift patterns, the successful candidate may be require to support across site when necessary.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be the first point of contact for patients, secretaries and health care insurance companies wishing to book / enquire about the services available.
The post holder will be able to provide patients with accurate prices for services they may wish to receive. The post holder will be responsible for ensuring that patients from all private units receive information regarding the services they wish to receive.
The post holder will have specific responsibility for the handling of self-pay enquiries directly from members of the public from phone calls, website enquiries, emails and potentially face to-face meetings.
The post holder will be responsible for providing information on procedures and services, explaining prices and processes and maximising the conversion of enquiries to out-patient appointments, tests and admissions for treatment and ensuring patients account are up to date with payments and the correct deposits are acquired before treatment.
The post holder will be responsible for making appointments for patients in outpatients or diagnostic facilities, and sending the appropriate literature to the patient once the appointment / diagnostic has been booked.
The post holder will be responsible for arranging all theatre bookings and ensuring that patients are appropriately identified on theatre lists, ensuring that all literature is sent out to the patient prior to the their admission.
Working for our organisation
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of England's top-performing and safest trusts. We operate two main acute hospital sites—Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and West Middlesex University Hospital—along with award-winning clinics across North West London.
Our nearly 7,500 staff care for a diverse population of 1.5 million, providing full clinical services, including maternity, A&E, and children’s services, plus specialist HIV and sexual health clinics. The Care Quality Commission rates us 'Good' in safety, effectiveness, care, and responsiveness, and 'Outstanding' in leadership and resource use.
We continually invest in our facilities, including a £30m expansion of critical care at Chelsea and Westminster and an £80m Ambulatory Diagnostic Centre at West Middlesex.
We welcome applications for flexible working arrangements, accommodating requests where possible to support our staff and patient needs.
The Trust is committed to equality and welcomes applications from all, regardless of background. Adjustments can be made for disabled candidates. Early application is advised as vacancies may close once sufficient applications are received. If you haven’t heard from us within three weeks of the closing date, your application was likely unsuccessful.Employment is subject to a six-month probationary period.
Some roles may require weekend shifts at multiple sites.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities- To deal with all enquiries in an efficient, polite and courteous manner providing a caring, compassionate, helpful service to patients, staff and the general public. To cover a shift pattern across 8am-8pm. Post holder may be required to work across site
- As part of the staff rota, work evenings and weekends when required.
- To be responsible for answering all telephone calls, email enquiries and other forms of communication in a timely and professional manner.
- Responsible for booking patients into services, such as outpatient appointments, diagnostic appointments and booking inpatient admissions.
- To work closely with the commercial and pricing teams to ensure self-pay opportunities are maximised, services are well-structured, meet patient needs and are competitively positioned and priced in the market
- Ensure that all booking data is accurately entered on to Cerner and Compucare in a timely manner.
- Ensure that all payment details are correctly logged onto the system at the time of booking.
- Prepare backing documents, ensuring that the policy and authorisation number has been supplied along with any guarantee letters for embassies and insurance companies. If information not supplied refer back to the private patient
- To investigate queries in person and on telephone, dealing with patient’s queries, invoices and financial queries sensitively and with diplomacy. Liaising with other departments within the hospital and outside agencies where necessary e.g. insurance companies & embassies
- To maintain an accurate and orderly filing system for all document
- To maintain up-to-date information and appropriate insight into competitor propositions, campaigns, pricing and activity in the self-pay market
- To ensure complete confidentiality with respect to patient information in line with Trust’s Confidentiality Policy & Information Governing Policy
- Prepare cost estimates for consultants and patients, by filling out cost estimate sheet with codes and prices, referring to current private patient price tariff
- Attend monthly unit staff meetings
- Take payment information from patients who are paying with credit or debit cards, over the phone and update compucare in the appropriate manner
- To check that the information provided by any clinical departments, e.g. Endoscopy and radiology is correct by checking Cerner (Electronic patients records) & ICE to ensure accuracy in adding information to compucare
- To use initiative, discretion and diplomacy and act in such a manner as to maintain and protect patient confidentiality at all times
- To ensure that the department voicemail/email address is checked and any messages are recorded clearly and actioned in order of priority in accordance with departmental standards
The duties detailed in this job description may vary from time to time depending upon the requirements of the service.
Please see attached job description and person specification to this advert for further details.
Person specification
Education & Qualifications
Essential criteria- Educated to GCSE standard or equivalent
- Technical Apprenticeship in Customer Service / NVQ Level 4 Customer Services or AAT
- Level 2 basic accounting or equivalent knowledge or experience
Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of working within a busy office environment
- Experience of a sales environment and converting enquiries or leads to a product or service sale
- Experience of managing and controlling a sales pipeline and pro-actively progressing enquiries and following-up actions
- Experience of communicating effectively with a wide range of people including staff, patients and consultants.
- Demonstrate well developed, effective interpersonal skills and communication skills.
- Experience within a Private Patients Department
- Experience working in an NHS environment
- Working with clinical pathways and medical terminology
Skills and knowledge
Essential criteria- Working knowledge of Microsoft products: - Word - Microsoft Office - Excel
- Accurate Keyboard Skills
- Working knowledge of Microsoft products: - Word - Microsoft Office - Excel
- Knowledge of PMI insurance billing frameworks.
- The closing date given is a guide only. There may be some occasions when we have to close a vacancy once sufficient applications have been received. You are therefore advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
- Please check your emails regularly as this is how we will communicate with you throughout the recruitment process.
- If you have not heard from us within 3 weeks after the closing date, we regret that this usually means your application was not successful.
- In submitting an application, you authorise the Trust to confirm any previous NHS service details via the Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process, should you be appointed to the post.
- During the recruitment process your identity documentation (ie passport, driving licence, visa etc) will be scanned using a device which recognises UV, infrared and machine-readable zone security features of the documents provided.
- Employment at the Trust is offered subject to successful completion of a six month probationary period.