An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Single Point of Contact (SPC) Contact Centre at Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.
The SPC Contact Centre plays a critical role in supporting access to community services and urgent care pathways across the Trust.
Acting as a central coordination hub, the team supports patients, carers, healthcare professionals and partner organisations by managing referrals, enquiries and urgent service requests.
This role provides a higher level of operational responsibility within the contact centre, supporting referral management, admission avoidance pathways and decision-making within established protocols.
The post holder will manage more complex calls and referrals, assess information received and ensure patients are directed to the most appropriate services.
Due to the nature of the SPC Contact Centre service, this role will require a combination of on-site working and remote working following completion of training and once the post holder is confident in the role.
This is a busy and rewarding role requiring strong communication skills, sound judgement and the ability to work effectively in a high-demand contact centre environment.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will provide a high-quality telephone and administrative service within the SPC Contact Centre, supporting patient access and coordination of care.
Key responsibilities include:
Managing incoming calls from patients, carers, healthcare professionals and partner organisations.
Assessing referral information and determining the appropriate service pathway in line with operational protocols.
Supporting admission avoidance pathways by ensuring urgent referrals are directed to the most appropriate community services.
Prioritising and processing referrals within agreed service guidelines.
Liaising with clinical teams and partner organisations to support timely patient care.
Liaising with ambulance services and arranging ambulance transport where required in line with service protocols to support safe patient care and escalation pathways.
Providing clear and accurate information to callers regarding services and referral processes.
Escalating complex queries or concerns appropriately to senior staff or clinical teams.
Ensuring patient information is accurately recorded within Trust systems.
Supporting the coordination of urgent and routine referrals across community services.
Working within a fast-paced contact centre environment while maintaining service performance standards.
About us
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to 'perfect care' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We're currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Job responsibilities
Act as a first point of contact.
Sort and prioritise incoming queries in line with the written guidance.
Respond to all telephone, e-mail and general enquiries ensuring that appropriate messages are emailed, or action is taken, escalating enquiries as and when required.
Provide demographic details of cases when requested.
Liaise with colleagues at all levels both within the team and across other agencies and in other organisations to request and compile health information in a timely manner.
Responsibility for booking appointments and associated data entry including the retrieval and maintenance of electronic patient records.
Responsibility of creating new records and discharging records on the electronic records system.
Ensuring the maintenance of the referral pathway process following Service procedures including liaison with other agencies and seeking consent as necessary.
Input patient sensitive/confidential information onto patient administration system ensuring accuracy, updating information as appropriate.
Record accurate and timely contact notes with patients on electronic record in line with Trust record keeping policy.
The post holder will propose any necessary changes of local protocols to aid service improvement, and to ensure that all standard operating procedures and guidance documents are kept up to date.
To highlight any operational concerns regarding administrative systems so that they can be reviewed.
Work closely with clinical and operational teams to ensure that rotas are up to date and shared with the appropriate person.
Participate in all necessary mandatory and targeted training to update skills and knowledge.
Maintain comprehensive electronic health records as per standard operating procedures.
Deal with all communications/correspondence confidentially as per Information Governance Policy and information sharing guidance.
To ensure the creation of new clinical records.
To participate and be engaged in service improvement initiatives/ activities to enhance quality of patient care. For example, participation in task and finish groups. The post holder shall as necessary, provide cover for and undertake duties of absent colleagues.
The post holder shall follow all the policies and procedures of the organisation.
GENERIC RESPONSIBILITIES FOR ALL STAFFAll post holders will agree to:
Commit to the vision of supporting Mersey Care in becoming a leading organisation in the provision of community services, mental health care, addiction services and learning disability care, and in doing so fully utilise their skills and experience to support the objectives of the Trust.
Role model the values of the Trust Continuous Improvement, Accountability, Respectfulness, Enthusiasm and Support in all activities and interactions with employees, service users and other stakeholders.
Challenge the stigma associated with mental health and learning difficulties.
Comply with the Duty of Candour, defined by Francis as: 'The volunteering of all relevant information to persons who have or may have been harmed by the provision of services, whether or not the information has been requested and whether or not a complaint or a report about that provision has been made.
Work across professional and organisational boundaries to improve services for all.
Maintain their specific knowledge base and develop new skills.Value the contribution of the patient/ service user voice.
Operate within any organisational codes of practice or those from a relevant professional body.
Respect equality and diversity across all areas of working practice and communications with staff, service users and other stakeholders.
Take responsibility for the accurate and timely collection and recording of data and ensuring all personally identifiable information is protected and used only for the purposes for which it was intended.
Comply with all health and safety legislation and local policies and procedures.
Adhere to all organisational policies. Have knowledge and understanding of technology in the workplace which is sufficient to maintain their efficiency and also how technology can empower service users in a digital environment.
Comply with the NHS Constitution in relation to the staff responsibilities that it sets out for NHS employees. 30/01/26
Attend a one day Just and Learning & Civility and Respect training workshop.
Be an ambassador for Just & Learning and Civility & Respect following the training.
Positively advocate the just and learning culture within your team.
Be a confident supporter and implementer of the Trust CARES Values including Civility & Respect within your team.
Support their team/ services to create a positive environment for Just and Learning Culture.
Participate in Just and Learning Culture events.
Bring Just and Learning Culture updates/ information to the attention of team members and other MCT colleagues they work with.
Support and encourage the sharing of concerns about the safety and quality of care with senior leaders with the aim of improving safety and quality.
Actively participate in creating an open culture within your team so that concerns and difficulties can be discussed safely and respectfully.
Speaking up in the event that they are exposed to incivility between colleagues in the workplace #iwillspeakup.
Listening and understanding others who have concerns and taking a collaborative approach to work towards a solution to improve civility and respect.
Person Specification
QUALIFICATIONS:
* NVQ Level 3 in Business Administration or equivalent
* Educated to GCSE standard or equivalent
* OCR or equivalent
* Customer Service Qualification
KNOWLEDGE/ EXPERIENCE:
* IT literate
* Proven experience of word processing, spreadsheet, and email software
* Experience of using patient administration systems
* Effective communication and interpersonal skills including telephone skills and face to face Communication
* Experience of general administration office skills - filing, photocopying, faxing, note taking
* Experience of working to conflicting demands and work effectively within teams
* Ability to work in a confidential and sensitive manner
* Ability to plan, prioritise and schedule own work
* Ability to work without supervision
* Able to work flexibly in accordance with service needs
* Ability to develop databases
* Computerised information systems
* Demonstrable knowledge of supervising other secretarial/administrative staff
VALUES:
* Accountability
* Support
* High professional standards
* Responsive to service users
* Engaging leadership style
* Transparency and honesty
* Discreet
* Change oriented
SKILLS:
* Keyboard / Word Processing / Data Input
* Good organisational and interpersonal skills
* Ability and willingness to travel across the Trust
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.
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