Call Referral Operator
SKILLS
FULL DESCRIPTION
Call Referral Operator
Company: [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] (ECCH)
Location: Hamilton House, Battery Green Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR32 1DE
Salary: £25,272 per year (Agenda for Change Band 2)
Contract: Permanent, Full-Time or Part-Time (30-37.5 hrs/week)
Closing Date: 11th May 2026
Job Summary
We have an exciting opportunity to join East Coast Community Access (ECCA), which is the central referral and communication hub for [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal]. We are open 7am to 8pm, 365 days per year and are looking for flexible staff to join our team. This post will work and provide support to ECCA services including but not limited to MSK services, PCH, Diabetes, Wheelchair Services, ME/CFS.
We can offer a range of employee benefits including Salary / sick pay in line with Agenda for Change, access to NHS Pension scheme or workplace pension scheme, flexible working, access to discounts exclusive to NHS staff, a range of health and wellbeing discounts and the option to become a shareholder.
ECCA is the first point of contact for patients and health professionals, dealing with referral processing, general enquiries, appointment booking, waiting list administration and requests for services for all relevant teams across the organisation.
We are looking for individuals that have excellent customer service skills, comprehensive understanding of confidentiality and the requirements of working within a healthcare setting, have experience with computer systems and are able to remain calm and professional within busy environments. If you are wishing to begin your career within healthcare, working for an organisation that has our community at its heart, then we would love to hear from you.
Please be advised, there are two roles available; one full-time at 37.5hrs per week, and one part-time with 30hrs per week.
Main Duties, Tasks & Skills Required
The team are based at Hamilton House, Lowestoft; where the service operates from 7.00 a.m. until 8.00 p.m, 365 days per year. There is a requirement to work rotational weekends / evenings; therefore a flexible approach to working is a key requirement of the role. The ability to be able to cover a range of shifts is essential, with shifts varying in length from 5 to 10 hours.
Contact to the team can be via telephone, email, and post. The role involves working in a very busy office, maintaining accuracy while adhering to strict timeframes for processing and disseminating incoming information. It requires excellent communication skills, and the ability to interact with people from all walks of life.
The team complete referral documentation and gather relevant information at the point of referral, either by telephone or by accepting and processing emailed or posted referrals. They work collaboratively with all relevant services and teams including single point of triage to process a range of referrals, this includes urgent & same day referrals.
Communication skills are vital as the team process approximately 3000 calls per week.
About Us
[Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] is well established health care provider and has been successfully delivering NHS care within the community since 2011. We provide a range of NHS, community health and social care services predominantly across the easterly region of the Norfolk/Suffolk borders.
We are aligned to NHS terms and conditions, and offer many employee benefits, to find out more about us visit our website - www.ecch.org. We are a social enterprise and staff owned organisation which means staff can opt to be shareholders and have a real say in how [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] is run and evolves to deliver healthcare for the future.
At the heart of our ambition, we work in partnership with and for the community to become the provider and employer of choice for community healthcare.
We encourage you to apply as early as possible as this job may close earlier than the advertised closing date once enough applications have been received.
Please note: Under current UK immigration rules, this role does not meet the eligibility requirements for sponsorship under either the Health and Care Worker visa or the Skilled Worker visa routes.
Job Description
- Receiving referrals via telephone, email and post, and scanning and processing these to strict deadlines. Checking these referrals for inaccurate or incomplete data and following up where necessary.
- Working across multiple services, including booking and cancelling appointments using different clinical units, referral routes and criteria, adding, moving and removing patients to and from clinical waiting lists.
- Communicate with a wide range of staff and patients, across multiple services, to advise on length of waiting list times, general appointment queries, etc.
- Co-ordinate messages / instructions between various clinical staff and teams.
- All roles within [Employer hidden] ([Employer hidden — sign up to reveal]) require staff to demonstrate our Values and Signature Behaviours in the care and service they provide to patients, service users, stakeholders and colleagues. All members of staff should consider these as an essential part of their job role.
- Our Values outline the core behaviours that we can all achieve and are summarised as an acronym within the word 'CARE'. These stand for: Compassion, Action, Respect and Everyone.
- Underpinning our Values are our Signature Behaviours which highlight by taking the right actions we continue to build a strong culture. Our four Signature Behaviours are: Compassion - We Listen, We Learn, We Lead| Action - My Accountability, My Responsibility | Respect - Respect Our Resources: People, Time and Money | Everyone - Work Together, Achieve Together.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to GCSE C or above, or equivalent, in English, Maths and IT, or displaying substantial experience in a similar role
- Good keyboard skills, equivalent to RSA II, and understanding of IT
- Microsoft Word and Outlook
Desirable
- NVQ II Customer care
Experience
Essential
- Experience in a patient or customer focused role
- Working as part of a team
- Good IT skills including word processing and emails
Desirable
- NHS or community based healthcare experience
- Recent experience of busy working environment
Additional Criteria
Essential - Skills and Knowledge:
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Excellent inter-personal skills at all levels
- Ability to prioritise work
- Able to adopt a diplomatic approach
- Good organisation and administrative skills
- Good telephone manner
- Able to use own initiative
- Able to multi-task
- Able to work with minimal supervision
- Able to work under pressure
- Good decision making
Essential - Personal Attributes:
- Ability to liaise with patients, colleagues, clinicians and members of the public from all backgrounds and disciplines in a professional manner
- Organised
- Flexible
- Able to remain effective and efficient under pressure
- Able to work independently as well as within a team
- Able to use own initiative
- Enthusiastic
- Discreet
- The ability to manage interruptions and a busy workload
- Excellent interpersonal skills and a pleasant telephone manner
- The ability to travel independently to fulfil shifts including Bank Holidays when public transport may not be operational
- Ability to embrace our Culture, Values and Signature Behaviours: (Compassion - We Listen, We Learn, We Lead| Action - My Accountability, My Responsibility | Respect - Respect Our Resources: People, Time and Money | Everyone - Work Together, Achieve Together)
- Willingness and ability to work across different sites and travel to alternative sites and across the community as required
Desirable - Personal Attributes:
- Assertive
- Empathetic
- Resilience
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.
Contact
For help with your application, contact: Nicola Jervis at [Employer hidden — sign up to reveal] or [contact hidden].
Additional Information
Pay scheme: Agenda for Change, Band 2. Contract: Permanent. Working pattern: Part-Time, Full-Time, Flexible Working. Reference number: 849-OL-31. Job locations: Hamilton House, Battery Green Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR32 1DE.
Attachments: Call Referral Operator JD PS v1.pdf (658KB), Values and behaviours 2023.pdf (341KB), Benefits of working for ECCH v3.pdf (181KB).