Chemotherapy Scheduling Office Team Leader

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the busiest and largest NHS foundation trusts in the country, with around 15,000 staff and an annual budget of £1.6 billion.

We have a long history of providing high quality care, clinical excellence, and innovation in medical research regionally, nationally and internationally.

We’re in the top five providers of specialised health services in the country, supporting people with a range of rare and complex medical, surgical and neurological conditions, cancers and genetic orders.

Our staff oversee around 6,500 patient contacts each day, delivering high standards of healthcare.

We welcome all applications irrespective of people’s race, disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity and in particular those from under- represented groups.

Our strategy includes commitments to being Net Zero by 2030, for our direct carbon footprint, and Net Zero by 2040 for our footprint plus. Delivering these ambitions will not be possible without the help, support and action of every single member of our team.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity to join our expanding team working in the Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria. The role will involve a highly organised and confident Team Leader for the chemotherapy scheduling team in North Cumbria. The role will involve leading a team of chemotherapy schedulers to book patients for SACT therapy across North Cumbria, ensuring optimum utilisation of resources and the management of waiting times.

You must have excellent communication skills and be confident at communicating with patients who are facing a life limiting illness. You will need to be confident in communicating with all members of the multi-disciplinary team at all levels.

You will need to be hard working and able to demonstrate the Trust Values within everyday work.

• Interview date: 9 January 2025
• 37 hours 30 minutes /week
• You will be redirected to Trac to apply for the vacancy. Please expand the job details section and read all of the information before applying for the vacancy

Main duties of the job

To supervise the staff within the Chemotherapy Scheduling Team and work with the chemotherapy lead to develop and maintain high standards of efficiency and patient focused delivery of services to our patients. This will include:

• Dealing with calls from patients and other stakeholders
• Day to day management of the team
• Local HR management, such as 1-2-1's, PDR's, Sickness and Absence, Mandatory Training etc.
• Operational Management
• Attendance at meetings
• Communication with stakeholders throughout the trust and externally
• Develop and maintain relationships
• Working knowledge of Trust Patient Management Systems and Chemo Care.
• Ensure full utilisation of capacity and escalate where necessary

Maintain a sound knowledge of Trust, local and National targets

Working for our organisation

Our staff oversee over 6,500 patient contacts every day, delivering high standards of healthcare from the following sites:

• Freeman Hospital
• Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI)
• Health Innovation Neighbourhood (on the former Newcastle General Hospital and Centre for Ageing and Vitality site)
• Newcastle Dental Hospital
• Newcastle Fertility Centre
• Northern Centre for Cancer Care, North Cumbria
• Northern Genetics Service
• Cramlington Manor Walks

These include a range of flagship services which deliver cutting-edge care (supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic services in both radiology and pathology) and are a catalyst for innovation to support pioneering clinical practice in the NHS.

We also have offices at Regent Point in Gosforth and community sites.

Please see attached information on what Staff Benefits we have to offer at our Trust under ‘Documents to download’ or ‘Supporting documents’.

For further information on The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust please visit: Careers | Newcastle Hospitals | NHS | Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Receives referrals and schedules patients for out-patient SACT for cancer.
• To provide co-ordination of the patient pathway. A key feature of the post will be to act as the link between the patients, oncology wards, consultants, radiotherapy outpatients, treatment machines and medical records in co-ordinating the treatment plan for each patient ensuring cancer targets are not breached.
• Be responsible for ensuring waiting time targets are met, using analytical, judgement, influencing and persuasion skills within the multi-disciplinary team environment.
• The post holder will allocate appropriate appointment slots for each stage of the treatment process, liaising with relevant staff, as necessary.
• Supervision of A&C staff within the scheduling section, responsible for staff induction, training, and appraisal.
• To maintain awareness of service delivery developments and contribute to the implementation of change within the service, participate and identify areas requiring improvement.
• To provide and maintain an efficient and effective administration service to the scheduling section.
• Contribute to the delivery of a consistently high standard of patient care as part of the multi-disciplinary team.
• Ensure case notes, x-rays and results are available for the commencement of patients SACT treatment.
• To ensure that case notes are correctly maintained following departmental guidelines and compliance with legislation (Caldicott Guidelines etc

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.

Person specification

KNOWLEDGE

• Knowledge of eRecord /CHEMOCARE
• Familiarity with medical terminology
• Knowledge of/ experience in management of waiting lists
• Knowledge of Cancer Waiting Time Targets

SKILLS

• High standard of IT and keyboard skills.
• Organisational and time management skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

EXPERIENCE

• Previous experience as an NHS clerical officer
• Previous experience with electronic patient information systems

• Previous customer/reception care experience

QUALIFICATIONS

• GCSE English or equivalent
• NVQ level IV or equivalent experience

• ECDL computer qualification.

Important note on completion of reference section of Application Form

Failure to complete this section may result in your application not being processed.

Please note it is a requirement of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that all successful candidates who require a DBS for the post they have been offered pay for their DBS certificate. The method of payment is a salary deduction from your first month’s pay.

Candidates who are shortlisted for interview will be contacted by e-mail. You should check your SPAM folders as well as your inbox. If you have not been contacted within 4 weeks of the closing date you should assume your application has been unsuccessful.