NHS Interview

inkie

Expect questions on confidentiality, safeguarding, handling conflict, prioritisation. Done lots of nHS interviewing. Good luck

Person_one

Oh and don't refer to the job title as 'clerkess', its just clerk now.

barbiedoll

Many NHS frontline staff (and Person One will know what I'm talking about) say that the ward clerks are among the most important staff members on the ward. They know EVERYTHING!

You will be expected to keep an eye on the vast amounts of paperwork, you will need to know everyone's contact phone/bleep numbers, you will be the first (and last) port of call for information regarding the patients on the ward. Although you won't be dealing with patient care as such, relatives and staff will rely on you for information and your phone will ring constantly!

Don't worry too much about unanswerable questions during the interviews, if you don't know something, just say so. They are looking for staff who are unflappable, can multi-task, who can deal with a range of people, from rude staff to crying kids. Be confident, show that you are caring and that you can prioritise.

You'll be fine, your office skills will hold you in good stead, you'll have lots of admin-type stuff to deal with.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

Person_one

barbiedoll wrote: »

Many NHS frontline staff (and Person One will know what I'm talking about) say that the ward clerks are among the most important staff members on the ward. They know EVERYTHING!

Amen to that!

babysteps24

I got my NHS job over another candidate as I spoke more about patient care, patients are the number one priority

kwmlondon

Look at the job spec in details. Pick each aspect of the job apart and make a question of it, e.g.

[FONT=&quot]This is a pivotal and creative role that requires the role holder to work closely with staff, students, potential applicants and alumni in the Department and to develop effective relations with [/FONT][FONT=&quot]the Faculty’s Communication Team, the Information Support Division, Development & Alumni Relations, Business, and Communications & Marketing.


When have you worked with students & staff? Please give an example.

What times have you worked with and influenced senior comms teams?
[/FONT]When have you worked with alumni?

etc.

Go through the key skills and do the same so that if they ask about the role and what it involves you've thought about it in advance and can give an opinion and examples when you've done that kind of thing before.

Horrible questions:
What would your colleagues say about you? (mine would say I'm a source of ideas and I get things done effectively and in collaboration with others)
What is your weakness? (mine - I get very enthusiastic about new ideas and have learned to adjust my pace to the speed other people adjust to change)
Why should we give you the job? (I make excellent cake)

Good luck!

indsty

Definitely work out answers re confidentiality - obvious things like not talking about patients outside of work, but also of keeping paperwork safe, logging on and off computers, not giving out info on the phone. Also very variable work load priorities - taking directions from numerous different people. Doing twenty six things at once, finding things other people have lost, answering the most extraordinary questions. Good luck with your interview. A ward clerk needs to be friendly, clear, to the point and sensible. You will have a lot to learn so remember times you have picked up new skills on the job.

DepositSaver

As others have said, questions are likely to be based on the person spec, so if the person spec says they need someone who can handle difficult phone calls, expect to be asked to describe a situation where you have had to handle a difficult call, how you handled it and what the outcome was.

Make sure you are fully aware of patient confidentiality and the Data Protection Act.

And yes, ward clerks are definitely some of the most important people on the ward!

I_try

Don't forget to go and visit the department/ward prior to your interview, speak to people that you would be working with and anyone else that is about. Present yourself well to them as this often gets fed back to interviewers, it's puts you in a good light already if the department like you and think you will fit in well.


It can be helpful when you see people outside of the interview situation and not being formally assessed!


If you don't know an answer it is usually better to admit that at this time you do not know but you would find out what the answer was and learn from that. You can not be expected to know the answer to everything but should show the willingness to learn rather than blatantly bluff your way through.


Good luck :-)

meritaten

and if they ask the usual trick question (and I have been asked this at almost every job interview in the last twenty years) 'Who is the most important person in the hospital/ward?' the correct answer is 'The Patient'.