SPA Administrator / Call Handler - Abingdon

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

We are a responsive and innovative Foundation Trust that places our values of Caring, Safe and Excellent at the heart of everything we do. We take great pride in our staff and believe that investing in you is key to us achieving our vision of outstanding care delivered by outstanding people.

We work with a wide range of partner organisations to deliver care and support to people in their own homes and from a number of hospitals and community bases. We focus on delivering care as close to home as possible for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

We actively support anti-racism, equality, diversity, and inclusion so, if you’re excited about this job opportunity and you meet our Trust values, but feel unsure about applying, then please get in touch and we will be happy to have a conversation with you.

We are also committed to increasing diversity in the workforce, that is why we actively encourage applications from those groups of people who are currently under-represented, which include amongst others: people with disabilities; men from all socio-economic backgrounds; people from diverse ethnic backgrounds; and people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

Good luck and we hope to hear from you.

Job overview

Do you enjoy talking to and helping people?

As a SPA Administrator/call handler, you will be the first point of contact for a range of referrals in the community via phone or email, enabling early intervention and avoiding admissions to hospital as well as enabling a timely discharge from the acute hospitals to community hospital beds.

Shift patterns are usually a fair mix of 08:00-16:00hrs, 09:00-17:00, 10:30-18:30hrs, and 12:00-20:00hrs with flexibility to swap duty with colleagues or request a duty where needed.

Full time hours are based on 37.5hrs per week.

Main duties of the job

The main aspect of the role is to process referrals received via phone, email, or clinical application system. Calls into SPA are varied and include vulnerable or frail people calling in asking for assistance. You may need to be patient with callers and need to have good communication skills to identify the individual’s needs.

You will work as part of a close-knit team to ensure referrals are processed in a timely and accurate manner to the right team. The workload can be busy and changeable, so a can-do attitude and an adaptable approach is required.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provides physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”

At Oxford Health we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

SPA team is made up of experienced administrators and clinicians who work closely together and there is always someone at hand to ask for advice. When you start, you’ll have line manager and peer support as well as training and other resources to support you do your work effectively.

We promote diversity and welcome applications from candidates from all backgrounds who meet essential criteria.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Education to GCSE level or equivalent. Good written and spoken English.

• Higher Education qualification (i.e., 'A' Level/NVQ) or equivalent. Customer service qualification. ECDL or equivalent.

Knowledge and Experience

• Computer/IT literate. Use of computer applications such as word, internet browsers, and email. Understanding of the need for confidentiality when dealing with personal data.

• Previous experience in an administrative or customer service role. Call handling experience. Experience of working in a social care or educational environment. Previous NHS experience or healthcare environment. Experience of using Electronic Patient Record system such as Casenotes, Carenotes, EMIS. An understanding of information governance, data protection and GDPR. Knowledge and experience in using Microsoft Teams. Ability to impart skills and learning in use of IT systems to other team members. An understanding of Safeguarding.

Personal Qualities / Values / Skills

• Patient focused approach. Open to learning and adaptable to changes. Attention to detail. Good computer keyboard skill. Ability to communicate professionally with staff and service users across all levels of the organisation. Ability to work effectively within a team environment. Able to work flexibly across other teams if required to cover leave/sickness of other admin staff. Able to work unsupervised and use own initiative when appropriate. Flexible to service needs. Honesty. Reliable.

• Ability to work in a high paced environment. Ability to challenge and react positively to being challenged. Able to build rapport with a range of people either face to face or on the telephone. Excellent and calm telephone manner. Ability to prioritise and manage own time effectively, whilst switching between multiple tasks or with distractions. Understanding of and commitment to Equal Opportunities and the Trust’s values.
• All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
• Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
• We’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.
• Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
• We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.
• We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.
• We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
• Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing