Employer Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Queen Victoria Hospital Town East Grinstead Salary £28,392 - £31,157 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 22/11/2026 23:59
Clinical Coder
Band 4
Welcome to Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and thank you for your interest.
In addition to receiving tertiary referrals from across the South East of England, we have a network of ‘spoke’ sites at district general hospitals enabling our consultants to offer their expertise with routine treatments and consultations as close to patients’ homes as is possible. With the recent addition of video led ‘virtual’ consultations we also enable patients who have some distance to travel to avoid the additional stress and worry of a long journey.
Working at QVH combines the excitement, challenge and career opportunities of many larger organisations with the satisfaction of delivering excellent patient care that really does re-build our patients’ lives.
We also offer attractive benefits such as
- tailored personal development to support career aspirations, including accredited clinical and management development programmes
- flexible working arrangements for a work-life balance that suits you and your needs
- a dedicated reward programme, offering a range of national and local discounts, cashback and tax relief schemes
The Trust is committed to offering a range of flexibleworking options to support employees to balance work and personal commitments, and the delivery of high quality and cost effective services.
Sustainability
At Queen Victoria Hospital we want to be the first Net Zero Hospital in England, and to achieve that wants every member of staff to be a green champion. The way in which the Trust works has a significant impact on the organisation’s carbon footprint and that of our patients. From the heat, light and power supplies within the hospital to avoiding unnecessary patient journeys, the Trust is empowering all staff to create a sustainable health and care environment for future generations. The Trust expects all staff to reuse and recycle more, to use energy and water efficiently, to walk or cycle to work if you can, and to have a focus on sustainability in the workplace.
QVH places a strong emphasis on the availability of timely, accurate and relevant clinically coded information to assist all staff in the planning and delivery of the best possible healthcare.
Clinical Coding plays a crucial role in the management of the Trust as it directly influences income through the ‘Payment by Results’ process. It also forms the basis for clinical audit, clinical governance reporting, benchmarking, clinical performance indicators, information governance and medical research.
Please note, this may be a Band 3 developmental role for the right candidate who would be required to complete the required competencies before they could move into the Band 4 role.
Main duties of the job
The Clinical Coding Team
deliver accurate, timely and complete clinically coded data
fosters a culture of continuous improvement and service development by ensuring all team members have up to date training and that the department participates in regular audit where feedback actions are embedded in every day practice;
develops strong working relationships with clinicians
The post holder will act as a trainee coder reporting directly to the Clinical Coding Manager. The post holder will ensure that the quality and coverage of coding is constantly monitored and improved, through Clinical Engagement, to provide complete, timely and quality data.
Working for our organisation
Rated GOOD overall with outstanding care by the CQC. A specialist NHS hospital providing life-changing reconstructive surgery, burns care and rehabilitation services across the South of England and beyond.
We specialise in conditions of the eyes (corneoplastics), hands, head and neck cancer and skin cancer, reconstructive breast surgery, maxillofacial surgery and prosthetics, providing regional and national services in these areas of clinical expertise.Our world-leading clinical teams also treat more common conditions of the eyes, hands, skin, and teeth for the people of East Grinstead and the surrounding areas. In addition, QVH provides a minor injuries unit, expert therapies, a sleep service, and a growing portfolio of community-based services.Patients consistently rate QVH amongst the top hospitals in the country for quality of care.
Our success is underpinned by the skills and enthusiasm of our staff and a strong culture of partnership. We are fully committed to training and development of the workforce with support for continuing education and learning.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Key result areas:
Abstract, analyse and enter correctly coded data into PAS (Patient Administration System) within agreed timescales.
Deal with complicated queries; liaise with clinicians and attend multi-disciplinary team meetings where required.
Locate and collate all appropriate source material, for example, missing case notes, histology.
Liaise with colleagues to distribute workload.
Communication
Able to communicate clearly and with confidence; able to articulate complex rule sets.
Able to offer advice and solutions, demonstrate empathy, attention to detail, leadership, reliability and business acumen on all matters relating clinical coding.
Communicate with Clinicians and Business Unit Management Teams, providing and receiving information that may be of a sensitive or potentially contentious nature.
Take an active part in general departmental meetings to ensure knowledge and learning is widely communicated.
Work with auditors in delivering feedback from audit results, reviewing personal development plans for the team/
Assist clinical teams with the research and provision of information for clinical audit and other purposes.
Ensure appropriate and effective planning, communication and management of clinical coding projects which cross business units.
Maintain and build on specialist knowledge and coding skills through regular peer communication identifying appropriate training opportunities.
Be able in the use of the hospital administration systems for the input of clinical data and the authorised amendment of detail, paying particular attention to accuracy, timeliness and confidentiality and using this knowledge to assist and train others.
Access electronic software systems extract information to supplement clinical coding of the patient record and train others to do likewise.
Regularly review and, if necessary, revise own working practices to take account of the department, Trust and NHS mandatory requirements.
Use knowledge of HSCIC Healthcare Resource Group (HRG) code assignment logic to advise Clinical Coders on diagnostic and procedure code assignment.
Have knowledge of the importance of clinical coding and its uses and an understanding of data quality requirements.
Use and maintain an extended knowledge of medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, to assist in the selection and application of clinical codes and to investigate and resolve possible inconsistencies between source data and test results.
Keep up to date with development and innovations in healthcare provision in Secondary Care.
Analytical and Judgmental
Work with the Information, Contracting and PAS Teams to improve data quality.
Abstract and analyse complex patient clinical records.
Use judgement to elevate complex cases where the procedure undertaken may not be readily code-able.
Use judgement to resolve complicated coding queries on behalf of the team where information available is ambiguous or there is differing opinion.
Be familiar with external clinical coding audit requirements, and standards, meeting with external auditors as and when required.
Person specification
Skills
- Proficient in use of standard computer software packages and PAS systems.
- Ability to prioritise workload in Order to meet organisational and national targets.
Attributes
- Act on own initiative
- Adaptable, able to cope with conflicting pressures
Additional requirements
- Prolonged periods of VDU use
Qualifications
- Good standard of education including Maths, English and Human Biology
- Accredited Clinical Coder (ACC) status or willing and able to obtain the ACC qualification, or equivalent relevant experience
Experience
- Clinical coding experience in a healthcare setting
Knowledge
- Knowledge of the importance of clinical coding and its uses and an understanding of data quality issues
- Awareness of the impact of clinically coded data
- Understanding Medical terminology and abbreviations
- Advanced keyboard skills and good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel
The closing date given is a guide only. There may be some occasions when we have to close a vacancy once sufficient applications have been received. You are therefore advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Application numbers
This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. Please submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.
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