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Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community, regardless of any protected characteristics.

We are committed to recruiting to our values. Leading One Culture of Care underpins our values by creating an environment, tone and behaviours across all parts of the Trust that are fundamentally rooted in compassionate care.

We are open to considering a wide range of flexible working arrangements. There are opportunities to flex the days of the week, hours and times of work and place of work including: part-time, job-share, flexible working hours and the possibility to work from home when appropriate. Please talk to us during the interview process to discuss any flexibility that you may require.

We received our Silver Award from the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme which is helping actively promote SaBRE - Supporting Britain's Reservists and Employers. This means that we provided its statement of intent to support all Defence personnel and we welcome application to work for us. Find out more - Why Choose CHFT?

Our Future Plans

The Department of Health and Social Care has awarded capital funding to invest in local health services at both Calderdale Royal Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. This is a significant investment and an opportunity to enhance services for our populations in Calderdale and Huddersfield and West Yorkshire for generations to come. To find out more, please visit https://future.cht.nhs.uk/

Job overview

The Senior Clinical Coder is responsible for the extraction and analysis of complex clinical information from clinical documents/systems relating to a patient's episode in hospital. The Clinical Coder translates the medical terminology applying relevant national clinical coding standards into codes from Classifications used nationally and internationally and record these as a key component of the patient's clinical history. They will use judgement to translate complex cases where a procedure or diagnosis may not be readily codeable.

The post holder will have achieved the national qualification of Accredited Clinical Coder and will continue to contribute towards their own working plan and training on specialty workshops and refresher courses. The post holder is expected to support the Clinical Coding Team to meet high standards of accuracy, timeliness, and completeness of the Trusts Clinical Coded data. They will support the senior coding team in the development of the service in accordance with local requirements whilst adhering strictly to national directives.

Main duties of the job

Analyse highly complex clinical terms from EPR and other clinical source systems using judgement where details may be complex or conflicting.
Provide consistently recorded data to well defined national standards. The Clinical Coding Department uses the ICD10 and OPCS classifications to record all diagnoses and procedures for inpatient and day case admissions.
Check data quality and record necessary amendments.
To liaise with various staff throughout the trust to facilitate timely, complete and accurate clinical source documentation for coding.
To have a proactive and positive approach in working with consultants and clinicians to ensure that information is sufficient for requirements in providing high quality coded data
Support the Senior Clinical Coding team to ensure continuous improvement in the quality of clinical data used for clinical governance, commissioning, and health needs analysis.
Provide complex specialist coding advice for financial and audit purposes
Manage own workload, without direct supervision, to ensure all relevant inpatient episodes are coded within the agreed deadlines to enable a complete financial assessment to be made.
Keep up to date with any changes to clinical coding standards and attend training.
Use Trusts clinical systems to maintain coding accuracy and facilitate completion of all coding within the timescales specified to meet the Trusts Contractual targets.

Working for our organisation

We employ more than 6,500 staff who deliver compassionate care from our two main hospitals, Calderdale Royal Hospital and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary as well as in community sites, health centres and in patients' homes. We also are incredibly proud to have almost 150 volunteers here at CHFT.

We provide a range of services including urgent and emergency care; medical; surgical; maternity; gynaecology; critical care; children's and young people's services; end of life care and outpatient and diagnostic imaging services.

We provide community health services, including sexual health services in Calderdale from Calderdale Royal and local health centres. These include Todmorden Health Centre and Broad Street Plaza.

We continue to modernise and invest in our health services to build on our strong reputation. Foundation trusts are public leaders in improving quality in health services. They are part of the NHS - yet decisions about what they do and how they do it are driven by independent boards. Boards listen to their Council of Governors and respond to the needs of their members - patients, staff and the local community.

Foundation trusts provide what the health service wants, yet are also free to invest quickly in the changes to the local community needs, in striving to be the best, and in putting their patients first.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job responsibilities

To abstract and analyse highly complex clinical terms from the Electronic PR and other clinical source systems using judgement where details may be complex or conflicting and provide consistently coded data to well defined national standards using ICD10 and OPCS classifications to record all diagnoses and procedures for inpatient and day case admissions.

Support the Senior Clinical Coding Team to deliver the agreed clinical coding service to meet the needs of Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust. Works with clinical and operational staff to ensure information provided in clinical systems is of a high quality and enabling continuous improvement in the quality of clinical data used for clinical governance, commissioning, and health needs analysis

See job description for further details

Person Specification

Qualifications/Training

Essential

Accredited Clinical Coder (ACC) Qualification (and attendance at Coding Refresher if ACC qualification more than 3 years ago)
Educated to degree level or equivalent experience in the specialist field of Clinical Coding
GCSE English, Maths and Science or equivalent A to C
AMSPA or equivalent in Medical Terminology
IT literate including use of internet for research
Commitment to continuing professional development
Willingness to complete the Clinical Coding Mandatory Standards Refresher Training Course and other Clinical Coding as required
Willingness to attend CHFT in-house training
Desirable
- Working towards Clinical Coding Audit/Trainer qualification
- Microsoft Office qualification or equivalent
Knowledge, Experience and Expertise

Essential
- Experience of working in a Patient Services environment
- Experience of Medical Terminology
- NHS experience
- Working as part of a team and supporting others
- In-depth knowledge of ICD10 and OPCS
- Extensive proven experience of coding all clinical specialities
- Awareness of Freedom of Information Act
- Able to demonstrate judgment skills to translate complex clinical diagnoses and procedures into accurate codes
- Awareness of clinical terming and coding systems
- High level of knowledge of medical terminology, anatomical and physiological terms
- Understanding of Information Governance and confidentiality
- Ability to prioritise activities according to deadlines
- Excellent attention to detail and ability to work as part of a team
- Advanced keyboard skills, use of VDU and inputting into a computer continuously
- Appreciation of Data protection and patient confidentiality
- The ability to prioritise activities and work to tight deadlines handling many different tasks at once
- The ability to work under pressure and concentrate for long periods requiring accuracy and attention to detail
- Awareness of NHS IM&T Strategy
- Awareness of security standards associated with information systems
- - The ability to use own initiative and manage workload
  - The ability to be thorough, accurate and reliable
  - Ability to be proactive and responsible
  - Maintenance of confidentiality
  - The ability to interpret clinical information whilst having an enquiring mind and being adaptable
  - Experience of working with different software systems in the NHS environment
  - Problem solving
  Desirable
  - Experience of mentoring other clinical coders
  - In-depth knowledge of HRGs and their role within coding
  - Ability to work across boundaries within THIS
  - Driving Licence and car owner
  Communication and Relationships
  
  Essential
  - The ability to communicate at all levels with tact and diplomacy
  - Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
  - Be able to communicate highly complex coding rules to coders and non-coders including clinical, admin and senior managers
  - Persuasive skills and able to deal with clinical teams and managers
  - Motivational skills
  - The ability to work as part of a team and on own

Person specification

QUALIFICATIONS / TRAINING

Essential criteria

Accredited Clinical Coder (ACC) Qualification (and attendance at Coding Refresher if ACC qualification more than 3 years ago)
Educated to degree level or equivalent experience in the specialist field of Clinical Coding
GCSE English, Maths and Science or equivalent A to C
AMSPA or equivalent in Medical Terminology
IT literate including use of internet for research
Commitment to continuing professional development
Willingness to complete the Clinical Coding Mandatory Standards Refresher Training Course and other Clinical Coding as required
Willingness to attend CHFT in-house training

Desirable criteria

Working towards Clinical Coding Audit/Trainer qualification
Microsoft Office qualification or equivalent

COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS (INCLUDING MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES)

Essential criteria

The ability to communicate at all levels with tact and diplomacy
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
Be able to communicate highly complex coding rules to coders and non-coders including clinical, admin and senior managers
Persuasive skills and able to deal with clinical teams and managers
Motivational skills
The ability to work as part of a team and on own

KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE & EXPERTISE

Essential criteria

Experience of working in a Patient Services environment
Experience of Medical Terminology
NHS experience
Working as part of a team and supporting others
In-depth knowledge of ICD10 and OPCS
Extensive proven experience of coding all clinical specialities
In-depth knowledge of HRGs and their role within coding
Awareness of Freedom of Information Act
Able to demonstrate judgment skills to translate complex clinical diagnoses and procedures into accurate codes
Awareness of clinical terming and coding systems
High level of knowledge of medical terminology, anatomical and physiological terms
Understanding of Information Governance and confidentiality
Ability to prioritise activities according to deadlines
Excellent attention to detail and ability to work as part of a team
Advanced keyboard skills, use of VDU and inputting into a computer continuously
Appreciation of Data protection and patient confidentiality
The ability to prioritise activities and work to tight deadlines handling many different tasks at once
The ability to work under pressure and concentrate for long periods requiring accuracy and attention to detail
Awareness of NHS IM&T Strategy
Awareness of security standards associated with information systems
The ability to use own initiative and manage workload
The ability to be thorough, accurate and reliable
Ability to be proactive and responsible
Maintenance of confidentiality
The ability to interpret clinical information whilst having an enquiring mind and being adaptable
Experience of working with different software systems in the NHS environment
Problem solving

Desirable criteria

Experience of mentoring other clinical coders
In-depth knowledge of HRGs and their role within coding
Ability to work across boundaries within THIS

Our vision is to provide One Culture of Care for one another in order that we can provide compassionate care for the people who use our services. We are passionate about creating a workplace where we work together to get results, encouraging colleagues to have their say, in order to co create the change we want to see. We take pride in the diversity of our workforce that's why we encourage applications from all. Reasonable adjustments will be made for disabled applicants.

Please ensure your application is submitted with referees who can verify your employment/education history over the last three years and include valid email addresses for them. We will request electronic Factual Employment References from your previous employers. These references will be requested before you are issued with an unconditional offer of employment letter.

If you are appointed to a post, information will also be transferred into the NHS Electronic Staff Records system. The Inter-Authority Transfer (IAT) process is a critical and beneficial component of ESR and following interview your previous NHS employment data, if applicable will be transferred from your current / most recent employer.

You may be required to undertake a DBS. The Trust will administer the DBS check on your behalf and will recover the cost (Enhanced £54.40, Standard £26.40 or Basic £26.40) from your salary when you commence in post (including Internal staff). You will also be required to participate in the DBS Update Service and pay the £16 cost per year. This is a condition of your employment.

CHFT is part of the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT), a collaborative of the NHS hospital trusts from across West Yorkshire and Harrogate working together to provide the best possible care for our patients.

If you have any questions please contact ask.recruitment@cht.nhs.uk for assistance.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Documents to download

ACC Senior Clinical Coder (PDF, 360.4KB)
Job Description Appendix A (PDF, 259.2KB)

Senior Clinical Coder

Senior Clinical Coder

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