I am new to the role of Patient Advisor having started at Port View in December 2021 and I would like to tell you of what I have learned so far about this role:
What I thought I knew, and what I know now
I was thrilled to be offered an interview for the post of Patient Advisor (PA) at Port View surgery and even more excited when I was offered the post. This area of work has interested me for a long time, but I did not think I would get the opportunity to try it out. I thought the role would be interesting and varied, dealing with patients at the desk or on the phone and helping with general admin work. I was told at interview that this is a tough job “no matter how busy you think it is going to be – double it. We can’t express enough how busy and complex the job can be – so you need to be prepared for it” My response at the time was “that’s fine, I am up for a challenge and prepared to face whatever comes my way” I did not take the word “tough” too seriously.
My first week as a PA and suddenly I understood what my interviewers were trying to warn me about! There are no words to fully describe it, unless you have worked in healthcare it would be impossible to understand what goes on behind the scenes and how complex it can be.
A typical day will be:
- Working as team to try and clear the incoming phone call list – appointments are sometimes limited and so learning how to Signpost to the most appropriate clinician or alternative service and how to prioritise the appointments to ensure those most in need are helped is a key skill set- which I am still learning.
- Emails – come in from patients, clinicians, hospitals, pharmacies, funeral homes, nursing homes, mental health services, laboratories, on average we receive 100-150 per day and all must be read and actioned.
- 111 reports, discharge summaries, ambulance reports, out of hours reports – these all come in electronically and have to be read and filed, with necessary onward actions being taken, GP’s informed, prescriptions issued.
- Home visit requests – these need to be recorded and passed to a GP
- Scanning – lots of documents still come in the post and all this needs to be scanned onto the patients record and “work flowed” to the correct team for processing – there could be medications changes to be made, new diagnosis to be added, onward referrals to be made.
- E-Consults, need to be read and then passed to the correct team for action, they could be for appointments, sick notes, advice, holiday vaccination forms, Asthma review questions, height and weight measurements, clinical reviews.
- Nursing/residential homes need to be contacted daily to check if they have patients who need to be seen.
- Samples are handed in over the desk and need to be recorded correctly and passed to the correct team, before being processed and put for collection by the hospital courier.
- 24 hr Ecg’s and BP recordings need downloading and adding to the patient record.
- Tasks – these are requests by the GP or another member of the team for us to action. It could be “make this patient an appointment”, “tell this patient their results were ok”, “please chase hospital results for this patient” on average we have a constant list of 200-300 to work through.
All of this work goes on behind the scenes by our team of PA’s, and this is on top of what I thought I was going to be doing, which was helping patients who come to the front desk at reception and answering the telephone.
Our telephones ring constantly, we answer over 6000 call each month, meaning there is very rarely a time when one of the phones are not ringing.
We start our days at 08.00 or 08.30 and go home at 17.00 or 18.00 and except for a coffee and lunch break, between those times we never, ever stop.
The job is rewarding, complex and at times extremely difficult. I am proud to go home at the end of each day knowing what I have achieved and how many patients I have been able to help, although I also worry if I have done the right thing, there is a lot of pressure on our shoulders at times. Mentally it can be tough, we can’t always give everyone what they want, and some patients are not happy with us, or the service we have given. Unhappy patients can sometimes be rude, aggressive and quite honestly nasty to us, but we always try to do our best and understand that they are often worried about their health or a family member and so we are not always seeing the best side of them.
We are a team at Port View. When I reflect back now to my interview and being told it is a “tough job”, I see that word differently. Yes, it is tough, but tough can be a positive thing. It means we have a strength and dedication; it means we will go above and beyond to help where we can and it means we are an amazing team of people who not only help our patients whenever we can, but we also help and support each other too.