We are a GP practice with a list size of approximately 7,000 patients, supported by a Practice Manager, an 8strong reception team and a 4strong admin team. We are looking to appoint a Patient Services Manager to provide daytoday operational leadership of our nonclinical, patientfacing services.
The Patient Services Manager will be responsible for overseeing reception, telephony, care navigation and administrative workflows to ensure patients can access care safely and efficiently, while protecting GP and nurse time. Working closely with the Practice Manager and GP Partners, the postholder will translate strategic decisions into practical processes, manage and support the reception and admin teams, and help balance patient expectations with the realities of practice capacity.
Main duties of the job
Key elements of the role include:
* Managing rotas, workload and performance for the reception and admin teams.
* Ensuring consistent, safe appointment booking and care navigation in line with practice policies and safe working guidance.
* Monitoring access and telephony data, identifying pressures and proposing solutions.
* Acting as a first point of contact for nonclinical patient concerns and lowlevel complaints, and supporting the formal complaints process.
* Maintaining and improving standard operating procedures, training records and risk assessments relevant to frontofhouse and admin functions, and contributing to CQC compliance.
* Leading small service improvement projects to streamline workflows and reduce avoidable demand on clinicians.
This role is well suited to someone with experience supervising a customerfacing team, strong communication skills and an interest in improving systems and processes within General Practice. The Patient Services Manager will play a key part in supporting the smooth running of the surgery and the wellbeing of both patients and staff.
About us
The Lansdowne Surgery is a GP practice based in Devizes, Wiltshire, and is part of the Devizes Primary Care Network (PCN). The practice provides a range of general medical services to the local community, working closely with neighbouring practices and wider NHS services to deliver highquality, patientcentred care.
As a modern NHS GP surgery, The Lansdowne Surgery offers a mix of facetoface, telephone and online consultations, supported by digital tools in line with NHS Englands core digital offer (see:https://www.england.nhs.uk/gp/investment/gp-contract/digital-requirements-guidance/). Patients can access the practice via telephone, online services and in person during opening hours, with urgent issues managed on the day where capacity allows, and routine issues booked into appropriate clinics.
The practice is part of Devizes PCN, which enables collaboration with other local practices and access to an extended multidisciplinary team, such as clinical pharmacists, fist contact phyios, social prescribers and other additional roles. This helps ensure that patients are seen by the most appropriate professional, while supporting GPs to focus on more complex clinical work.
The Lansdowne Surgery is registered with and regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and works within national NHS guidance and local commissioning arrangements to provide safe, effective and responsive primary care services to its patient population.
Job responsibilities
JobTitle
Responsibleto
Practice Manager
Accountableto
Practice Manager and GP Partners
Hours/ Contract
Full Time, Permanent
JobPurpose
To manage and develop the patientfacing andadministrative services of the practice, including an 8strong reception teamand a 4strong admin team, ensuring safe, efficient and patientcentered accessto care.
The postholder will translate the Partners andPractice Managers strategic decisions into daytoday operational processes,protecting GP and nurse time through effective care navigation, workflow designand demand management, while maintaining a professional and compassionateservice for patients.
KeyRelationships
Practice Manager (daytoday line manager)
GP Partners
Reception / care navigation team (8 staff)
Admin team (4 staff secretarial, scanning, coding, referrals, etc.)
Nursing, Nurse Manager and wider clinical team
Patients and carers
MainDuties and Responsibilities
1.Operational Management of Reception and Admin
Oversee daytoday running of reception and telephones, ensuring adequatecover across core hours.
Line manage the 8 receptionists and 4 admin staff, including rotas,annual leave planning and basic HR processes (sickness reporting, informalperformance management, escalation to Practice Manager as needed).
Ensure consistent use of agreed appointmentbooking rules, triageprocesses and care navigation protocols, in line with GP capacity and safeworking guidance.
Coordinate the admin teams workload (referrals, document management,coding, results handling workflows, registrations/deductions, recalls) tominimise unnecessary GP/admin duplication.
Work with the Practice Manager to adjust staffing patterns in response todemand (e.g. Monday mornings, flu season, QOF deadlines).
2.Patient Access and Care Navigation
Implement and maintain clear SOPs for:
Appointment booking (facetoface, telephone, online, home visits).
Online consultation handling and allocation.
Repeat prescription requests (nonclinical elements).
Test result and document handling (nonclinical elements).
Train and support reception staff in care navigation, ensuringappropriate signposting to:
Community pharmacy, NHS 111, urgent care, selfcare resources, and otherservices.
Monitor access metrics (e.g. call volumes, wait times, onlineconsultation numbers, DNA rates) and provide regular summaries to the PracticeManager, highlighting risks to safe GP workload.
Help implement any changes to appointment book design or triage modelagreed by the Partners/Practice Manager, and feedback staff/patient issues.
3.Team Leadership, Training and Culture
Provide daytoday supervision, support and visible leadership toreception and admin staff.
Conduct regular 1:1s and annual appraisals for direct reports,identifying training needs and development opportunities.
Ensure all team members complete mandatory training (safeguarding,information governance, health & safety, conflict resolution, etc.) andmaintain records for CQC.
Promote a culture that balances patient expectations with realisticservice capacity, supporting staff to manage difficult interactions safely andprofessionally.
Support staff wellbeing by recognising workload pressures, escalatingconcerns to the Practice Manager and contributing to solutions (e.g. rotachanges, process improvements).
4.Patient Experience, Communication and Complaints
Act as first point of contact for nonclinical patient concerns and lowlevelcomplaints, resolving issues where possible and escalating formal complaints tothe Practice Manager.
Log and track complaints, compliments and feedback, ensuring responsesare drafted in a timely manner for signoff by the Practice Manager/Partners.
Coordinate patient surveys and Friends & Family Test, collate resultsand support action plans to improve patient experience and reduce avoidabledemand.
Work with the Practice Manager to keep patientfacing information(website, posters, leaflets, SMS templates) up to date and consistent,especially around access arrangements and changes to services.
5.Governance, CQC and Risk Management
Ensure reception and admin processes comply with practice policies andCQC requirements (e.g. confidentiality, chaperoning, safeguarding, complaints,equality and diversity).
Maintain and review relevant risk assessments for frontofhouse/adminfunctions (e.g. violence and aggression, lone working, slips/trips, DSE forcall handlers and admin staff).
Ensure incidents and near misses involving reception/admin are reported,logged and followed up; support learning and implementation of changes.
Contribute to CQC preparation by providing evidence of SOPs, trainingrecords, audits and service improvements relating to patient services.
6.Data, Reporting and Continuous Improvement
Produce regular operational reports for the Practice Manager/Partners on:
Telephony performance (call volumes, wait times, abandoned calls).
Appointment utilisation and DNAs.
Online consultation volumes and patterns.
Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in reception/admin workflows andpropose practical solutions that protect clinical time.
Lead or support small audits and quality improvement projects related toaccess, communication and administrative processes.
7.Health & Safety and Security (FrontofHouse Focus)
Ensure reception and waiting areas are safe, tidy and compliant withhealth & safety requirements.
Support implementation of policies on violence and aggression, includinguse of panic alarms, incident reporting and staff debriefing.
Ensure reception/admin staff understand emergency procedures (fire,medical emergencies, evacuation) and participate in drills.
Oversee visitor and contractor signin at reception, ensuringconfidentiality and basic safety information are provided where appropriate.
Person Specification
Experience
* Experience supervising or managing staff in a customer facing environment (healthcare or similar).
* Strong leadership, communication and interpersonal skills.
* Proven ability to handle complaints and difficult conversations calmly and professionally.
* Good IT skills, including use of practice systems (or ability to learn quickly) and Microsoft Office.
* Understanding of confidentiality, data protection and equality & diversity.
* Ability to prioritise, work under pressure and manage competing demands
* Previous experience in General Practice or primary care.
* Familiarity with GP clinical systems (e.g. EMIS, SystmOne) and cloud based telephony.
* Experience of service redesign, audit or quality improvement.
* Knowledge of CQC requirements for GP practices and NHS England expectations around access.
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.
Full-time,Flexible working,Compressed hours
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