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Job summary

Main area
Admin
Grade
Band 3
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
275-2409BED-ALSP
Employer
Medway NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Medway Hospital
Town
Gillingham
Salary
£24,071 - £25,674 per annum/pro rata
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
30/09/2024 23:59

Employer heading

Medway NHS Foundation Trust logo

Bed Allocation Specialist

Band 3

Do you have the ambition and vision to deliver the Best of Care by the Best People?

Here at Medway, we pride ourselves on working together as one to ensure that our shared vision of Better, Best, Brilliant is achieved

Our Trust is a great choice for people who want to develop their career in an ambitious and dynamic environment; our employees are able to choose the coverage and supplemental benefits that best fit their needs and those of their families. This includes the promotion of flexible working opportunities across the Trust, we are able to give our employees flexibility on where, when and the hours they work.

Our culture and values are what drives Medway NHS Foundation Trust and is the heartbeat of who we are as an organisation. It is important that you understand and to refer to our values when you are completing your application and always reflect our values throughout your employment with the Trust.

Job overview

Bed Allocation Specialist

Division: Corporate

Care Group: Operations Directorate

Band: 3

Salary: £24,071 - £25,674 per annum/pro rata

Interview Date: 8th October 2024

We are recruiting for a Bed Allocation Specialist who shares our ambition and vision to deliver the Best of Care by the Best People and has the drive to take us forward, by ensuring that the Trust continues to be the first choice for patients and our staff.

The post holder will provide a specialist role in terms of supporting patient flow through the Care Coordination Centre. Working under the direction of the Clinical Site Manager the post holder will allocate beds to waiting patients being admitted via ED, Theatres and Repatriations, as well as providing administrative and clerical support in order to achieve good patient flow.

Main duties of the job

Provide specialist knowledge in the use of the TeleTracking system to allocate beds to those patients who require admission to the hospital, placing non-complex patients within agreed pathways.

Under the direct supervision and in discussion with the Clinical Site Manager facilitate internal bed moves to support the allocation of more complex patient moves.

Monitoring and managing the occupied timer post bed allocation.

To support the Clinical Site Managers ensuring they are appraised of bed pressures and any bed availability delays as they come up throughout the day.

To manage the staff sickness line, receiving calls and appropriately logging staff absence on Healthroster.

Working for our organisation

Here at Medway, we pride ourselves on working together as one to ensure that our shared vision of Better, Best, Brilliant is achieved.  Our culture and values are what drives the Trust and is the heartbeat of who we are as an organisation.

Our Trust is a great choice for people who want to develop their career in an ambitious environment.

Would you like to work flexibly?   In the NHS, we are reminded every day of how important life is. As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us, for our patients and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement which will not mean sacrificing time for personal interests or family commitments. We aim to support you to work flexibly in a way that will suit you and us.  

All of our substantive & fixed term employees can enjoy a range of staff benefits, a gym, an active health and wellbeing programme, an on-site nursery and a cycle to work scheme.

We are taking positive action to ensure that we can attract, recruit and retain the best talent and would welcome more applicants from under – represented groups to support the Trusts commitment to a diverse, inclusive and an employer of choice workforce.

All staff at Medway comply the Trust’s and the Kent and Medway Safeguarding Board’s policies on safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Will follow agreed processes to work within a performance driven environment to achieve monitored KPIs and use initiative to place non-complex patients within the appropriate care setting. They will also be required to place more complex patients into the appropriate care setting under the guidance of the Clinical Site Manager. The post holder will be expected to resolve non-routine circumstance, escalating to management when appropriate.

To be able to manage own workload and use own initiative to work within outlined pathways.

To be able to work as part of a team.

 

Communication and relationship

Coordinate with ED, Assessment areas, wards and discharge lounge to ensure the timely flow of patients through the hospital and escalate any potential delays

Act as the central point of contact and communication for all staff and the CCC; required to tactfully expedite potential delays with the clinical team in the fields of diagnostics, therapies and discharge to ensure timely decision making in the patient journey and experience

Communicate externally with alternative NHS providers referring into the Trust for repatriation of patients appropriately logging the details on the TeleTracking system and providing appropriate bed allocation.

Appropriately use the 8x8 or MS Teams telephone system to communicate with all staff across the Trust who may contact the Care Coordination Centre.

Planning and organisational

To use TeleTracking, Allscripts and Sunrise EPR to maintain an accurate record of patient transfers throughout the shift.

Accurate input of patient related data to contribute to patient pathways and subsequent business intelligence analysis.

Forward plan with regard to forthcoming discharges and subsequent cleaning and decontamination of bed spaces in order to prioritise bed allocation based on non-elective and elective admissions.

Appropriately log staff sickness on Healthroster when contacted by staff within the Trust calling into the staff sickness line.

 

 

Responsibility for policy/service development

Implementation of department procedures and contribution of ideas for service and role improvement

Review historical data and situation reports on previous decision making and contribute to action plans for future decision making

 

Management responsibility

Ability to demonstrate role to new staff

Appraising own performance against the KPIs set

Participating in site visits of external visitors and support in demonstrations of the systems.

 

Physical effort

Required to sit in a restricted position for prolonged periods

 

Mental and emotional effort

Frequent requirement for concentration where the work pattern is unpredictable. The post holder will be receiving information from multiple sources, verbal and non-verbal, to make informed and often complex decisions

Frequent indirect exposure to distressing and emotional circumstances when liaising with clinical teams regarding patient bed allocation choices.

The post holder will contribute to the organisation of large-scale incidents such as major incidents, business continuity incidents and global pandemics as necessary

Able to work within a high pressured and sometimes stressful environment working against particular targets such as the ED Standards.

 

Responsibility for R&D

Undertakes surveys and audits as necessary to own work

 

Working conditions

Office conditions

Continuous VDU use

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Minimum grade ‘C’ GCSE English and Maths or equivalent.
  • NVQ Level 3 or equivalent experience

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office
  • At least 2 years customer service experience

Skills & Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills
  • Accuracy and attention to detail
  • Polite and professional communications skills
  • Ability to organise and prioritise own workload to meet deadlines/targets

Values Based Question

Essential criteria
  • Give an example of a time where you have demonstrated a ‘can do’ attitude (including the situation you were in) and the outcome

Employer certification / accreditation badges

No smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleAge positiveDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - BronzeDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - SilverDisability confident employerNHS Rainbow badgeStep into health

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Jo Saunders
Job title
Head of Site
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01634 976541
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