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We’re hiring

Position: Care Navigator/receptionist

Hours: Full time and/or part-time available   

Due to new internal roles being created at Tavyside Health Centre, we have an exciting opportunity for someone looking to join our team!

Why join our team?

Benefits include:

  • Access to the amazing NHS Pension scheme (or NEST).
  • NHS Discount scheme
  • 27 days annual leave pro rata + 8 bank holidays!
  • Additional annual leave after long service.
  • Social activities and events
  • Paid compassionate leave.
  • Enhanced maternity/paternity leave depending on length of service.

What are our values?

  • Community focused
  • Compassionate
  • Diligent
  • Inclusive
  • Progressive
  • Sustainable

If this sounds of interest to you, please enclose your CV in an email to Jonathan Coe, Practice Manager: D-ICB.Tavyside@nhs.net.

Job Summary
To be responsible for undertaking a wide range of reception duties and the provision of general support to the multidisciplinary team. Duties can include but are not limited to, greeting and directing patients, effective use of the appointment system, booking appointments, processing of information and assisting patients as required. To act as the central point of contact for patients, the distribution of information, messages and enquiries for the clinical team, liaising with multidisciplinary team members and external agencies such as secondary care and community service providers.

Generic Responsibilities

All staff at Tavyside Health Centre have a duty to conform to the following:


Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
A good attitude and positive action towards ED&I creates and environment where all individuals are able to achieve their full potential. Creating such an environment is important for three reasons: it improves operational effectiveness, it is morally the right
thing to do, and it is required by law. Patients and their families have the right to be treated fairly and be routinely involved in
decisions about their treatment and care. They can expect to be treated with dignity and respect and will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race,
religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Patients have a responsibility to treat other patients and our staff with dignity and respect.
Staff have the right to be treated fairly in recruitment and career progression. Staff can expect to work in an environment where diversity is valued and equality of opportunity is promoted. Staff will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability,
gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Staff have a responsibility to ensure that you treat our patients and their colleagues with dignity and respect.

Safety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)
This practice is committed to supporting and promoting opportunities to for staff to maintain their health, well-being and safety. You have a duty to take reasonable care of health and safety at work for you, your team and others, and to cooperate with employers to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements. All personnel are to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Environmental Protection Act 1990, Environment Act 1995, Fire Precautions (workplace) Regulations 1999 and other statutory legislation.


Confidentiality
This practice is committed to maintaining an outstanding confidential service. Patients entrust and permit us to collect and retain sensitive information relating to their health and other matters, pertaining to their care. They do so in confidence and have a right to expect
all staff will respect their privacy and maintain confidentiality at all times. It is essential that if, the legal requirements are to be met and the trust of our patients is to be retained that all staff protect patient information and provide a confidential service.

Quality & Continuous Improvement (CI)
To preserve and improve the quality of our output, all personnel are required to think not only of what they do, but how they achieve it. By continually re-examining our processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall effectiveness of the way we work. The responsibility for this rests with everyone working within the practice to look for opportunities to improve quality and share good practice.
This practice continually strives to improve work processes which deliver health care with improved results across all areas of our service provision. We promote a culture of continuous improvement, where everyone counts and staff are permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery and enhance patient care.

Induction Training
On arrival at the practice all personnel are to complete a practice induction programme;
this is managed by the Operation Lead.


Learning and Development
The effective use of training and development is fundamental in ensuring that all staff are equipped with the appropriate skills, knowledge, attitude and competences to perform their role. All staff will be required to partake, and complete mandatory training as directed by the training coordinator, as well as participating in the practice training programme. Staff will also be permitted (subject to approval) to undertake external training courses which will enhance their knowledge and skills, progress their career and ultimately, enable them to improve processes and service delivery.


Collaborative Working
All staff are to recognise the significance of collaborative working. Teamwork is essential in multidisciplinary environments. Effective communication is essential and all staff must ensure they communicate in a manner which enables the sharing of information in an
appropriate manner. Service Delivery

Staff at Tavyside Health Centre must adhere to the information contained with practice policies and regional directives, ensuring protocols are adhered to at all times. Staff will be given detailed information during the induction process regarding policy and procedure.


Security
The security of the practice is the responsibility of all personnel. Staff must ensure they remain vigilant at all times and report any suspicious activity immediately to their line manager. Under no circumstances are staff to share the codes for the door locks to
anyone and are to ensure that restricted areas remain effectively secured.

Professional Conduct
At Tavyside Health Centre staff are required to dress appropriately for their role. Administrative staff will be provided with a uniform whilst clinical staff must dress in accordance with their role.


Leave
All personnel are entitled to take leave. Line managers are to ensure all of their staff are afforded the opportunity to take a minimum of 27 (FTE) days leave each year, and should be encouraged to take all of their leave entitlement.

Primary Responsibilities
The following are the core responsibilities of the receptionist. There may be on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:
a. Maintaining and monitoring the practice appointment system
b. Process personal, telephone and e-requests for appointments
c. Answer incoming phone calls, transferring calls or dealing with the callers request appropriately
d. Signpost patients to the correct service
e. Initiating contact with and responding to, requests from patients, team members and external agencies
f. Read code data on EMIS web
g. Photocopy documentation as required
h. Data entry of new and temporary registrations and relevant patient information as required
i. Input data into the patient’s healthcare records as necessary
j. Direct requests for information i.e. SAR, insurance / solicitors letters and DVLA forms to the administrative team
k. Manage all queries as necessary in an efficient manner
l. Carry out system searches as requested
m. Maintain a clean, tidy, effective working area at all times
n. Monitor and maintain the reception area and notice boards
o. Support all clinical staff with general tasks as requested

Dr Cathy Dunlop

Dear Patients of Tavyside Health Centre and Lifton Surgery,

I am writing to inform you, that due to my relocation to Cornwall 18 months ago, I shall be retiring from the Tavyside Partnership at the end of August 2023.

My last working day as a GP Partner, will be Wednesday the 12 July 2023. From November, for 3 months, I shall work as a GP Locum at the practice, and will be available from time to time thereafter, but need to make the gentle transition of finding work nearer home.

I joined Wharfside Surgery 18 years ago and was blessed to have Dr Harriet Doyle and Dr Mark Eggleton as my partners and the wonderful Cathy Smith as our nurse. We have since, merged practices twice. Throughout these times, I have worked with some fantastic doctors, nurses, HCAs, receptionists, secretaries, managers, cleaners, pharmacists, students, and feel very proud and fond of the team we have become; I will miss them.

I would like to thank you, the patients, for being such a lovely bunch of people. Over the years, I hope that I have been of help to some of you along your journeys. During the pandemic, I missed face to face consultations, and am delighted they are back, alongside telephone consultations when appropriate.

I have always felt incredibly lucky to be a GP; to experience individual doctor patient relationships and indeed, learn about myself too! It has been an honour to be a part of your lives, so thank you and look after yourselves!

With best wishes,

Cathy Dunlop

Group A Strep

As your GP, we are keen to support you in managing sore throats and illnesses this winter. You may have been alarmed by recent national media coverage of Strep A and Scarlet Fever. Please do not panic. The current levels of Strep A infection are not significantly higher than previous years: We are just seeing a peak of infections in December rather than the spring as normal.

Strep A is a really common bug. 1 in 5 children carry this bug in their throats as a normal and healthy part of their flora. It is only when Strep A gets into the wrong place and causes sepsis that we have a problem. Importantly there is usually no benefit in swabbing the throats of people with mild symptoms as 1 in 5 will be positive from Strep A – this is normal. Most sore throats are also best managed without antibiotics. 

The following extract is from the NICE CKS Website – Sore throat – acute | Health topics A to Z | CKS | NICE

  • Sore throat due to a viral or bacterial cause is a self-limiting condition. Symptoms resolve within 3 days in 40% of people, and within 1 week in 85% of people, irrespective of whether or not the sore throat is due to a streptococcal infection.

What we are really keen to emphasise is that a sore throat alone is not a problem but sepsis is. Sepsis occurs when bacteria gets into the blood system. People and children with sepsis may:

  1. Have a fever (over 38 degrees C) but with cold hands/feet
  2. Be drowsy, un-rousable or floppy (high risk symptoms – please seek help immediately) 
  3. Confusion or disorientation (high risk symptoms – please seek help immediately)
  4. Look unwell, mottled or pale
  5. Maybe breathing quickly or working hard to breathe (sucking in between their ribs or under their ribs)
  6. May not be passing urine as often as normal
  7.  May have a fast heart rate.

In general, unwell children will not be playing, running around, smiling or eating normally. 

We do highly recommend downloading the HANDi App from the NHS to help manage your kids illness and to help you know when to seek help. 

HANDi Paediatric on the App Store (apple.com)

HANDi Paediatric – Apps on Google Play

IF YOU THING YOU OR YOUR CHILD IS SERIOUSLY UNWELL, WHATEVER THE AGE, PLEASE DO NOT DELAY SEEKING HELP

With best wishes

Tavyside Health Centre

Evening Herald Press release Thursday 3rd December 2022

Following the report released by Plymouth Herald last week regarding the best to worst GP surgeries for appointment availability, I wanted to clarify our position and relay how the results and wording of the article were particularly misleading. Interestingly the report focused on face-to face appointment availability, yet further on names Tavyside as the lowest wait time to secure an appointment and the highest percentage of patients to secure an appointment with a GP.

Tavyside Health Centre offer same day access telephone triage appointments for our patients who require urgent care, if a patient is then assessed as requiring a face-to-face appointment, they will also be seen on the same day, by a GP. This model allows us to provide same day access for those who have a clinical need whilst ensuring the resource for face-to-face appointments is maintained.

Without on the day triage and based on the same model as other named surgeries, all patients would be looking at a minimum of 2-3 weeks to be seen and this would be relevant to all patients regardless of their clinical need.

We have based our model on our patient requirements, to meet the needs of our patient population, we continue to receive daily positive reviews regarding the high level of care we offer, the opportunity to leave courteous constructive feedback is available via our website.

Sarah Evans
Practice Manager
Tavyside Health Centre