Job vacancy: Claims Handler, East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Nottingham

Job summary

Main area: Claims Administration
Grade: Band 4
Contract: Permanent
Hours: 37.5 hours per week (Full time, Nottingham Office or home/remote working)
Job ref: 335-A-1615

Employer: East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Employer type: NHS
Site: Either office based or home based with an occasional requirement to work in the Nottingham office
Town: Nottingham
Salary: £26,530 - £29,114 per annum
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 24/11/2024 23:59

Claims Handler

Band 4

We are East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), an organisation focused on delivering a high standard of emergency and urgent care to our patients across the region.

The East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EMAS) provides Emergency, Urgent and Non-Emergency pre-hospital care and transport across six counties (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire & Rutland and Northamptonshire).

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

· Develop and maintain accurate and effective systems in respect of the Trust’s claims management service (excluding motor and employment tribunal claims), in accordance with legal requirements and accepted good practice.

· Handle a caseload of claims, liaising with solicitors, insurance investigators, the NHS Resolution and other parties within and outside the Trust as appropriate.

· Investigate the circumstances of claims to support the Head of Governance, Senior Claims Handler, NHS Resolution or their solicitors and obtain the necessary documentation and explanations from staff across EMAS to support the Trust’s position in responding to the claim.

· Highlight all new claims and claims progress to the Head of Governance or Senior Claims Handler, advising of any concerns or developments to ensure risk management action can be taken as necessary.

· Accurately input claims information onto claims/disclosure spreadsheets and the Ulysses incident management system to record all activity relating to the claim.

· Implement the Claims Procedure within the Claims Team and across the Trust as required.

· Provide practical support and advice to managers and staff in relation to statement taking and/or investigation as appropriate to the complexity of the case.

· Prepare synopsis reports for clinical negligence and other claims as appropriate.

· Process requests for disclosure of health records and other documents as requested by NHS Resolution, solicitors, or (potential or actual) litigants in person in accordance with the relevant legislation (Pre-action Protocol for Clinical Disputes, General Data Protection Regulations, the Data Protection Act, Access to Health Records Act).

· Prepare claims reports, including statistical and financial information, to support effective planning of the claims function and to identify areas of risk .

· Record and monitor the cost of claims and associated legal costs, reporting on expenditure and lessons learned.

· With the Head of Governance and Senior Claims Handler develop and maintain links between claims, complaints and risk management to ensure that learning can take place across the Trust.

· Respond to enquiries received from outside bodies such as the NHS Resolution or solicitors.

· Liaise with key managers within the Trust to obtain information needed to investigate claims.

· Produce documentation to support payment requests and present to the Head of Governance for authorisation.

· Extract the appropriate information from the Claims database and Payments Tracker to create the month-end Finance Provision Reconciliation and work with the Finance team and NHS Resolution to resolve any queries.

· Maintain a record of payment requests and authorisations.

· Attend meetings, seminars and training as necessary for the purpose of personal development and share learning with the team.

Person specification

Essential criteria

GCSE (or equivalent) in English and Maths (minimum grade C/4 or above). NVQ level 3 or equivalent qualification or equivalent experience
Experience of undertaking investigations, identifying implications for an organisation and recommending action to limit damage or risk. Experience of maintaining legal/claims administrative systems and maintaining confidential records. Experience of managing shared electronic filing systems. Experience of working with staff of all levels.
Knowledge of a range of administrative procedures acquired through relevant training and experience. A good working knowledge of Microsoft Office software, including Outlook, Word Excel and Teams.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Demonstrates an ability to work well under pressure. Ability to monitor and plan in advance own workload and prioritise according to the needs of the organisation. Good level of literacy and numeracy skills, with the ability to understand, record, communicate and analyse verbal and written information. Excellent organisational and time management skills with the ability to work accurately and to high standards, particularly when under pressure. Self-motivated and pro-active team-player with the ability to work independently and without direct supervision. Ability to deal confidently and professionally with internal and external queries, referring on as appropriate. Ability to deal sensitively with other members of staff and have the discretion to deal with confidential issues. Ability to set standards and motivate staff to improve systems and services. Willingness to undertake further training and continually develop in a professional manner.
A self-motivated and pro-active team-player with the ability to work on own initiative as well as part of a team. High degree of integrity, accountability and respect for the sensitive and confidential nature of the work undertaken. Possess a flexible, enthusiastic and positive attitude. Calm and measured, able to manage challenging situations and remain objective. Able to work closely with staff from across the Trust. Is able to occasionally travel to other locations.

Desirable criteria

Microsoft Office qualification
Experience of working with service users or their representatives.

The East Midlands has a lot to offer:

Excellent Location

Making a Difference

Action Packed Roles

Support and Belonging

Note on Covid-19 Vaccination status:

It is a clear professional responsibility of all health care staff to be vaccinated. EMAS NHS Trust therefore encourages and supports all employees to be vaccinated as it remains the best line of defence against COVID 19.

If you haven’t heard back from us within eight weeks of the closing date please consider your application unsuccessful.

Due to the high volume of applications received we are unable to provide updates on the progress of applications and only successful candidates at shortlisting stage will be contacted, regrettably feedback will not be provided. If you are unsuccessful at this stage please refer back to the job description, person specification and advertised requirements for ways to improve your future applications.

Internal candidates applying for vacancies must have completed their probationary period (stated within your contract) at point of application.

East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust is an equal opportunities and Disability Confident employer, committed to ensuring equality of opportunity. We actively encourage interest from across our diverse communities. Black and Minority Ethnic staff are currently under-represented within our workforce, and we welcome applications from within these communities.

We are keen to promote a positive work-life balance. We recognise the importance of being able to spend quality time with family and friends and to engage in your own personal interests outside of work, which alongside work helps us to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. We are committed to embedding the NHS People Promise to support colleagues to work flexibly in a way that works for our patients, for us and for you. Many of our staff already work flexibly in many different ways, including job share, part-time or other flexible working patterns. Please talk openly to us at interview about flexible working opportunities. In addition, if a role is advertised as home based, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations, so please talk to us about the options available to you. If it works for our service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

At EMAS we believe that our culture should be built upon our core values and that our behaviour should reflect these. Our values – respect, integrity, contribution, teamwork and compassion - underpin everything we do – how we deliver our services and how we work with each other. We believe that it’s our people who make EMAS what it is.

Our Vision - Responding to patient needs in the right way, developing our organisation to become outstanding for patients and staff, and collaborating to improve wider healthcare.

Please note we reserve the right to withdraw this vacancy if an internal member of staff on our redeployment register expresses an interest and is successful for this vacancy, or if a sufficient number of applications is received.

Please be aware if you are applying for a Frontline role, an Enhanced DBS clearance check will be required, and depending on the nature of other non-patient facing roles this check may also be required if offered a position with EMAS (All spent and unspent convictions must declared).

If you are not part of the update service, you will be liable for the payment and this will be deducted from your first months’ salary. The current cost of an enhanced DBS check is £43.88.