Band 3 Switchboard Operator

The closing date is 5th Feb 2023

Job summary

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust is supported by the Switchboard department supporting communication services for all Trust sites. The successful applicants will be responsible for the consistent delivery of a high standard Telephony service, operating as the focal point for the Trust promoting a positive and courteous manner. The department is currently introducing a number of service improvements including the implementation of new switchboard software, upgrading our technologies and merging services. The roles are currently based on the Heartlands site but the services will be re-locating to the Fiveways area of Birmingham starting in the spring.

Please see shift patterns on attachment.

Main duties, tasks & skills required

The role involves answering inbound internal and external calls in a responsible and courteous manner, monitoring progress and rerouting appropriately. The successful candidates will activate and operate the bleep system in a prompt and efficient manner. Respond to all Emergencies including Major incident, activating Emergency procedures in accordance with Trust Policies & Procedures and following the departmental recording and reporting process. The post holders must have good communication and customer care skills, both written and verbal, demonstrating sympathy and compassion. The ability to communicate with staff at all levels using clear and concise language, good keyboard and IT skills and the ability to multitask with good organisational skills are essential. 

About us

We are recognised as one of the leading NHS Foundation Trusts in the UK. Our vision is to Build Healthier Lives, and we recognise that we need incredible staff to do this.

Our commitment to our staff is to create the best place for them to work, and we are dedicated to:

Investing in the health and wellbeing of our staff, including a commitment of offering flexible working where we can;
Offer our staff a wide variety of training and development opportunities, to support their personal and career development objectives.

UHB is committed to ensuring that our staff are treated fairly and feel that they belong, by creating a kind and inclusive environment. This is about equity of opportunity; removing all barriers, including discrimination and ensuring each individual member of staff reach their true potential, achieve their ambitions and thrive in their work. This is more than words. We are taking action. Our commitment to an inclusive culture is embedded at all levels of the organisation where every voice is heard, driven by our diverse and active staff networks, and at Board level by the Fairness Taskforce led by our CEO. We nurture a culture which empowers staff to challenge discriminatory behaviours and to enable people to bring their 'whole self' to a kinder, more connected and bold place to work.

Job description

*Please Note : For a detailed job description for this vacancy, please see attached Job Description* 

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

* Good General Education (e.g. GCSE English and Maths A-C) GCSE Level 9-4

* NVQ Level 3 in an administrative environment or Knowledge of administrative procedures and systems acquired through experience and training.

Desirable

* NVQ Level 3 in administration/ customer service or equivalent

Experience

Essential

* Experience of dealing with the Public/Customer service experience

* Significant telephony experience including experience of working with telephony equipment and pagers.

* Experience of working with a range of Microsoft Office packages (eg. Word, Excel and Outlook

* Knowledge of telephony terminology e.g. phonetic alphabet

* Understand confidentiality and apply the principles

* Must be able to demonstrate an understanding of equality and diversity

Desirable

* Experience of working in a busy environment

* Experience of working in Healthcare

* Knowledge of basic medical terminology

* Experience of using Trust IT systems

* Knowledge of supporting emergency procedures

Additional Criteria

Essential


* Good communication / customer care skills both written and verbal demonstrating sympathy and compassion

* Ability to communicate with staff at all levels using clear and concise language , face to face or on the telephone where there maybe barriers of misunderstanding

* Good keyboard / IT skills

* Good organisation skills and ability to multitask

* Good time management skills

* Ability to deal professionally with enquiries from staff

* Ability to problem solve in a timely manner

* Ability to pay attention to detail where there are predictable interruptions to the work pattern

* Ability to deal with stressful situations and work under pressure

* Work effectively and flexibly as part of a team to meet the needs of the services

* Confident in dealing with people at all levels

* Ability to remain in a restricted position for extended periods of time.

* Flexible approach to work including covering a shift pattern to include nights, weekends and bank holidays

* Ability to travel to other Trust sites if required by the role.

For help with your application, contact: 

Cath Tomasin 

catherine.tomasin@uhb.nhs.uk 

01214241400 

Pay scheme

Agenda for Change 

Band

Band 3 

Salary

£21730.00  to £23177.00 Yearly 

Contract

Permanent 

Working pattern

Full-Time, Flexible Working 

Reference number

304-48090DH 

Job locations

Heartlands Hospital 
Bordesley Green E 
Birmingham 
West Midlands 
B9 5SS 

Attachments

This vacancy is closed to applications.