NHS - Senior Customer Service Assistant - Helpdesk
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it.Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’.Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS.We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
Are you looking to join an ambitious team in one of the most complex and large NHS Trusts in the UK. Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation and the ‘Smart Together’ Shared Service is embarking on an exciting transformation journey to develop common systems, processes and procedures and to embrace new ways of working to ensure alignment to the national models of procurement that are emerging within the NHS.
We are now looking for an individual to join our customer service team within the Performance Excellence function of the Procurement and Supply Chain department.
Main duties of the job
This role is to provide outstanding customer service to the organisation and wider partners by running the customer helpdesk to ensure our department supports the trust and the wider organisations to have what they need to deliver world class patient care. This role involves a variety of administrative, support and delivery tasks required to successfully deliver a sector leading procurement service. The role will be part of an important function, allowing trust colleagues to successfully do their jobs by:
- Supporting the management of all helpdesk activities and providing advice and guidance to support an efficient helpdesk service.
- Providing excellent customer services to our internal customers, and dealing professionally with external suppliers
- Utilisation of the Shared Service systems and tools and interaction with a wide range of stakeholders across the Shared Service, ICS and the supply base.
The applicant will also work collaboratively with the Buying and Catalogue Team functions to ensure seamless operations, supporting the organisation's mission to deliver world-class patient care.
The role will require the applicant to have top class communication skills with a strong knowledge and experience of NHS procedures, systems, legislation and guidance.
The role requires a willingness to contribute a positive and enthusiastic attitude and the applicant must be reliable, pro-active and enjoy working in a busy team.
Working for our organisation- Be part of an inclusive department with a flexible hybrid working approach and great annual leave offer, fostering a healthy work-life balance.
- Access to individual development opportunities and mentorship for career progression.
- Access to a great salary and an NHS pension.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
A full Job Description and Personal Specification can also be downloaded.- ‘Smart Together’ is a shared procurement and supply chain service hosted by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, one of the leading hospitals in the country and serve the hospitals across south east London.
Smart Together currently provides its services to GSTT and 4 other NHS Trusts, namely, Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
Person specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential criteria- Educated to Diploma Level in customer service, or administration or other related qualification or equivalent experience.
- Or has a vocational Level 3 or equivalent; plus, knowledge of purchasing requirements, organisational policies and procedures
- Knowledge and experience to deal with non-routine issues such as problem solving for an area of work or developing alternative or additional procedures.
- Hold evidence of having achieved an A*-C GCSE or equivalent in Math and English.
- Evidence of continuing professional development
Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria- Experience working as part of a team and the ability to develop contacts and build networks.
- Administrative experience and a good level of IT literacy, including Microsoft Office applications, in particular Excel and Word.
Skills
Essential criteria- Strong spoken and written communication skills and social skills.
- Good interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and work effectively across teams.
- Excellent organisational skills with the ability to work under pressure.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service.We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.
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