Pathology Service Desk Assistant

Job description

Job responsibilities

Prime Responsibilities

Communications & Relationship skills

• Manning of the Pathology IT Service Desk, acting as the first point of contact for all customers both within GHNT and supported third party organisations
• Ensuring that all calls are answered within the Trust First Class Hospitals standard of under 18 seconds
• Provide first level end user support to Trust and supported third party organisations where possible and appropriate, otherwise forwarding calls to the most appropriate person or organisation for second/third level support, including use of remote support tools as appropriate
• Ability to actively listen to users of the services and extract relevant information to determine their requirements or the root cause of any issues.
• Ability to show empathy for service users experiencing issues and demonstrate an understanding of the business impact caused.
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely with a wide range of end users and support staff from multiple backgrounds and organisations, including difficult users, on potentially complex or sensitive information
• Provide a customer focused approach to ensure we deliver a responsive and effective service to users.
• Work with other support staff in the local Gateshead health community in the implementation of Service Desk facilities to support healthcare delivery.
• Liaison with support representatives of other organisations to ensure that problems are directed to the most appropriate support staff for resolution
• Working with local and national service providers to ensure that Service Desk call forwarding (seamless ticketing) is implemented between Trust Service Desk software and provider helpdesk systems
• Work collaboratively with all members of the digital teams to deliver a seamless, efficient and effective service.
• Provision of support for the laboratory information system and all associated applications
• Ability to communicate through written, electronic and verbal media at a wide range of levels, including the ability to present highly technical and/or complex concepts in readily understandable language
• Working with Trust IT department to ensure that orders are processed appropriately, and with support staff to manage installation workloads

Knowledge, Training & Experience

• Educated to NVQ Level III or with equivalent experience, preferably educated to degree level or equivalent in depth experience in an IT related subject, relevant technical certifications or qualifications
• Substantial experience of end user first level support experience
• Strong customer service skills gained in dealing with a broad range of users of a service, not necessarily within IT
• Knowledge of and experience in using Service Desk software, including call transfer to other organisation helpdesk systems
• Technical knowledge of IT hardware, operating systems and end-user productivity tools
• Maintain up to date knowledge of technical hardware and software used within Pathology and supported third party organisations, including but not limited to Meditech LIMS, ICE Desktop, analyser data managers
• Familiarity with on-line technical and support resources
• Experience in using and maintaining databases
• Willingness to enhance own skill set in relation to developments in desktop technology and software environments
• Demonstrated recent development of knowledge and skills in support of the Service Desk role
• Knowledge of national coding structure including but not limited to Read Codes, SNOMED, SNOMED-CT and the Universal Test Library (UTL)
• Possess, or working towards ITIL Green Badge certification
• Possess, or working towards Service Desk Institute Service Desk Analyst qualifications
• Maintain personal and professional development to meet the changing demands of the job and participate in appropriate training activities
• Flexible, dedicated and with the appropriate combination of practical and theoretical approaches
• Knowledge of and exposure to National developments of NHS digital projects and programmes
• Relevant NHS experience is desirable

Planning & Organisational Skills

• Manage the enrolment and maintenance of user accounts for ICE Desktop, Meditech and data managers, ensuring that starters, leavers and movers are correctly processed
• Management of the Service Desk call log in association with the second level support teams to ensure that all calls are accurately logged, and that users are appraised of call status where appropriate
• Management of hardware and software fault call logs for tracking third party support calls
• Tracking and management of all quotes, requisitions and invoices for IT related hardware and software, liaising with the Pathology IM&T Manager to ensure that appropriate technical and other standards are enforced

Responsibility for Policy & Service Development

• Responsible for following and implementing policies relating to working within the IT function
• Management of documentation, procedures and, in association with the Pathology IM&T Manager, policies relating to the operation of the pathology systems applicable to Trust and supported third party organisations
• Assist with development and assessment of new operational policies and guidelines within the IT function
• Responsible for proposing changed or updated policies relating to working within the IT function
• Work with the Pathology IM&T Manager on the implementation of pathology related solutions for the Trust

Responsibility for Financial & Physical Resources

• Responsible for the safe and secure receipt, handling and storage of expensive equipment
• Responsible for purchase of IT related assets
• Tracking and management of all orders, requisitions and invoices for IT related hardware and software, liaising with the Pathology IM&T Manager to ensure that appropriate technical and other standards are enforced

Responsibility for Human Resources

• Train Trust and other organisation staff in the use of the Service Desk system
• Supervise more junior members of staff
• Responsible for training of end users on ICE label printing devices

Responsibility for Information Resources

• Management and development of the Pathology IT hardware and software asset log on QPulse to ensure that all relevant Trust and supported third party organisation assets are accurately recorded and tracked
• Use the Laboratory Information System according to the authorised procedures and policies
• Enter and retrieve Patient data using the Laboratory Information System
• Comply with local and national policies for the safe, secure and confidential processing, and storage of patient and other laboratory data
• Daily management of the electronic results messaging solutions to ensure results are distributed to primary care requestors in a timely manner and any identified issues are resolved without significant delay
• Production of performance statistics to assist the Pathology IT in management and improvement of the support function, including the production of the necessary reports for managing third party service level agreements

Person Specification

Education

• Able to demonstrate recent interest in own personal development
• Educated to NVQ or equivalent

Experience

• Experience of working in a customer service environment, not necessarily IT
• experience of first and second line IT support
• Familiarity with use of Service Desk software systems
• Familiarity with Microsoft end user productivity applications

Skills

• Excellent communication, interpersonal and organisational and presentation skills
• Effective written and verbal communication with all levels of user
• Able to work with support staff from third party organisations
• Strong telephone call handling skills

Knowledge

• Knowledge of PC hardware and operating systems, including installation, support and troubleshooting

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.

Employer details

Employer name

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Queen Elizabeth Avenue

Gateshead

NE9 6SX

Employer's website

https://www.qegateshead.nhs.uk