Patient Services Manager
Job summary
Please apply via the Fordingbridge Surgery website using the link below.
The Patient Services Manager is responsible for the operational management of the reception, administration and care coordination teams, ensuring the delivery of an efficient, professional, safe and patient-centred service.
The post holder leads and develops frontline and administrative staff, ensuring that patients receive a high-quality service from first contact through to the completion of administrative processes, and that the practice meets its contractual obligations on patient access.
The post works alongside the Operations Manager, who designs and maintains the practice's operational systems. The Patient Services Manager is responsible for those systems being properly staffed, understood, followed and delivered day to day.
Main duties of the job
As Patient Services Manager, you will be responsible for the day-to-day leadership of our patient-facing and administrative teams, ensuring services run smoothly, efficiently and safely.
You will lead by example, supporting staff to deliver high-quality service whilst maintaining a strong focus on patient care, access, teamwork and continuous improvement.
Key responsibilities include:
Managing the Reception, Administration and Care Coordination teams.
Ensuring appropriate staffing levels through effective rota planning and workforce management.
Recruiting, inducting, training and developing staff.
Creating a positive, supportive and accountable team culture.
Managing performance and supporting staff development.
Acting as the first point of escalation for complex patient enquiries and informal complaints.
Supporting the delivery of excellent patient access and administrative services.
Contributing to quality improvement initiatives, audits and service development.
Supporting the practice's business continuity arrangements and operational resilience.
Working collaboratively with colleagues to ensure practice systems and processes are understood and consistently delivered.
Supporting the practice during regulatory inspections and demonstrating the achievements of your teams.
About us
The Fordingbridge Surgery is a friendly and forward-thinking dispensing practice serving approximately 12,600 patients on the edge of the New Forest.
We are proud to be a training practice for GP Registrars and a teaching practice for medical students. We work closely with our Primary Care Network and are committed to delivering high-quality healthcare to our local community.
As the only GP practice in the town, we have strong relationships with our patients and a genuine sense of community. Our teams are dedicated, supportive and committed to providing the best possible care and service.
The practice is led by five GP Partners, supported by an experienced Practice Manager and Operations Manager.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The Patient Services Manager is responsible for the operational delivery of patient services, including the management, staffing, training, and day-to-day supervision of the relevant teams. This role is designed alongside the Operations Manager role, with responsibilities divided by activity rather than by service area. As a result, both posts contribute to areas such as appointments, telephony, document processing, patient registrations, and recall activities.
The post holder is accountable for ensuring that work is completed accurately, efficiently, and within agreed timescales by staff who are appropriately trained and competent. Where operational experience identifies opportunities to improve systems or processes, these should be raised with the Operations Manager, supported by appropriate evidence. Local system configuration changes should not be made independently. Once approved changes are implemented, the Patient Services Manager is responsible for ensuring that teams are trained appropriately and that new processes are embedded effectively into routine practice.
The post holder works autonomously in the day-to-day management of their teams, resolving issues within their delegated authority and escalating matters promptly where they fall outside their remit or require wider organisational consideration.
Person Specification
Qualifications
- Good standard of education including GCSE English and Mathematics, or equivalent.
- Evidence of management training, or a willingness to undertake relevant training.
- Management qualification, or equivalent experience.
- Experience within a GP practice setting.
- Experience of managing or working alongside care coordinators or other Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme staff.
- Experience of SystmOne.
- Knowledge of CQC requirements and quality assurance processes.
- Experience of improving operational processes and service delivery.
- Experience of service redesign and quality improvement.
- Experience of managing staff performance and conducting appraisals.
- Knowledge of workforce and HR processes.
Skills
- Able to lead a team through operational change and bring staff with them.
- Able to organise competing workloads across a team and deliver to agreed timescales.
- Able to communicate clearly with patients, clinicians and staff, including in difficult conversations.
- Able to prioritise where demand exceeds capacity, and explain the basis for the decision.
- Able to use operational data to identify where a service is failing, and make decisions under pressure and account for them.
- Proficient IT skills, including experience of clinical systems and Microsoft Office applications.
- Basic IT Skills
Experience
- Experience of managing teams within a GP practice, the NHS, healthcare, or a comparable customer service environment.
- Experience of rota management and workforce planning.
- Experience of dealing with patient complaints and complex situations.
- Management qualification, or equivalent experience.
- Experience within a GP practice setting.
- Experience of managing or working alongside care coordinators or other Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme staff.
- Experience of SystmOne.
- Knowledge of CQC requirements and quality assurance processes.
- Experience of improving operational processes and service delivery.
- Experience of service redesign and quality improvement.
- Experience of managing staff performance and conducting appraisals.
- Knowledge of workforce and HR processes.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Employer details
Employer name
Fordingbridge Surgery
Address
The Fordingbridge Surgery
Bartons Road
Fordingbridge
Hampshire
SP6 1RS
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.fordingbridgegps.co.uk/