General Surgery Lead Elective Admissions/SAAUNHS

Job summary

The post holder will be required to work closely with other members of the administrative team and clinical teams, including managers, administrators, nursing and medical staff, allied health professionals and support workers.

The post holder will be required to liaise with a range of staff internally and externally across the Trust and with partner and external organisations.

In addition, as the most senior member of the specialty administration function, the post holder will take on delegated duties from divisional management team members.

Main duties of the job

Responsible for monitoring waiting lists and capacity within a service, proactively acting upon issues and working with more senior managers and the clinical team to resolve them, in order to ensure access and quality targets are met for the service.

In addition the post holder will have responsibility for added key results area across (a) team management, and/or (b) service improvement and development, in accordance with the needs of the specialty.

Job description

Main Duties and Responsibilities Communication and Patient Liaison

• Communicate complex or sensitive information clearly, effectively and appropriately with the multidisciplinary team, patients and their family, visitors or carers, and other clinicians involved in the care of the patient, e.g. General Practitioners.
• Role model excellent customer service skills to the wider administrative team.
• Manage and answer telephone calls related to the service in a courteous and prompt manner.
• Provide patients with information about appointments or non-clinical advice and guidance regarding their care.
• Resolve complex queries, using analysis, experience and judgement to determine when to pass the caller on to a member of the clinical team.
• Support administration staff to resolve complex queries that they have escalated, taking ownership of the query and ensuring a satisfactory outcome.
• Act as a point of contact for the department or specialty, dealing with queries from stakeholders and passing on relevant information to appropriate team members or departments as required.
• Receive and respond to e-mail and In-Basket queries, monitoring, managing and triaging email correspondence to generic inboxes.
• Using hospital information systems including Epic, produce accurate correspondence for patients, GPs and others involved in care, and ensure its timely dissemination to stakeholders.
• Deal with stressful situations that may arise when dealing with patients who are anxious or distressed, or where there are barriers to understanding, using tact, diplomacy and empathy at all times and in line with Trust values.
• Use developed communication skills in order to deal with patient concerns or complaints with empathy and understanding, finding a solution that assures the patient.

Coordinating Care

• Take overall responsibility for the administrative work carried out by the administrative team within a designated specialty or department.
• Receive and register referrals on hospital information systems in line with the Trusts Elective Access Policy, ensuring that the administrative team are supported in doing the same.
• Book, or reschedule, appointments or diagnostics for patients, in accordance with the Trusts Elective Access policy. Take responsibility for resolving complex booking and scheduling issues that have been escalated to you by the administrative team.
• Proactively monitor the patient pathway in order to ensure that all elements of a patients care are arranged appropriately, and in a timely manner.
• Identify potential delays or issues with a patient pathway or potential breaches, and take preventative steps to avoid these, i.e. chasing diagnostic tests, results of tests.
• Manage the outpatient waiting list, ensuring escalations are provided appointments within breach
• Lead and take part in PTL meetings.
• Prepare information for MDT meetings
• Ensure adequate preparation for clinics or admissions, receive and collate reports of investigations such as blood tests and x-rays, and preparing information for clinical teams before the next clinical appointment of the patient.
• Responsible for procuring items related to patient admissions, or contacting theatres for equipment.

About us

The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. In June 2026, we launched our new strategy for 2026-31. Our vision is to transform healthcare, and we have agreed six strategic ambitions to help us improve care for patients, and the working lives of our staff.

Our six strategic ambitions are deliveringhigh-quality patient care; creating a great place to work; leading pioneering research, innovation and education; building strong and successful partnerships; providing timely and efficient care; and ensuring long-term financial sustainability.

We have also agreed four new organisational values - Caring, Collaborative, Inclusive, Innovative - and these underpin everything we do, and how our teams interact with the patients under our care.

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King's is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone's contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust's carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.