Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Specialist

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1.     Clinical

• To carry out high-quality ADOS assessments, as part of the MDT, face to face with children and young people, up to age 18 years
• To work with the Head of AHPs and Community Paediatricians to facilitate changes in practice across the service to improve clinical outcomes to meet the needs of patients and carers
• Provide co-ordination across professional boundaries working closely with other clinicians within the same area of practice and partner agencies

·        To communicate effectively with neurodiverse children, young people and adults, families, internal and external staff

·        To work as part of the multidisciplinary team to provide appropriate intervention and support in a person-centred and individualised way

• To manage own varied and complex caseload and to be responsible for completing clinical reports and correspondence in a timely manner in line with the record keeping policy and ASD SOP
• To work as part of the MDT to support efficient risk assessment and risk management
• To sensitively deal with distressing or emotional circumstances regarding patient care, and communicate information, sensitively, requiring empathy and reassurance, to patients and carers
• To have full knowledge of evidence-based practice and be able to demonstrate the highest level of expertise and clinical reasoning skills in this area
• To ensure ADOS-2 Reliability is kept up to date through attendance at annual workshops 

2.     General

·        To empower patients and their families through appropriate support and education

·        To motivate and persuade others through advanced communication skills and to be able to gain the co-operation for treatment/interventions where there may be significant barriers to understanding and to support the other members of the team to do likewise

·        Occasional exposure to sensitive/emotional situations including supporting young people with their mental health and onward referrals.

·        To utilise formal and informal reporting mechanisms, including electronic and handwritten reporting to ensue effective internal and external communications and to ensure all documentation is accurate and professional

·        To present information and reports as required relating to service area including formal presentations

·        Fully support the use of EMIS/EMIS (iPad) mobile and provide contemporaneous clinical records

·        To continuously challenge practice ensuring a sound evidence base thus meeting clinical governance requirements

·        Support the Service Lead and Operational Leads in delivering the ASD KPIs and in performance management of clinical issues and ensure that capacity is maintained and timelines managed at times of escalation

3.     Audit and Research

·        To evaluate and audit the quality and effectiveness of the practice of self and others

·        To participate and lead on clinical audits as appropriate on work related research/evaluation projects and to be aware of current research relevant to the speciality

·        To review new policies and research and contribute to professional discussion about ways of implementing same in clinical practice

·        To participate in the development, implementation and evaluation of protocols, policies consistent with national standards and current research

4.     Professional

·        Ensure that personal performance meets job requirements, Professional Codes and standards, Bromley Healthcare and post competency standards at all times.

·        To ensure own compliance with mandatory training programmes and own ongoing professional development and development of the advanced practitioner role.

·        To maintain a portfolio of advanced practice and personal development activities and evidence.

·        To take an active part in the own clinical supervision.

·        To actively participate in Bromley Healthcare’s appraisal and review process identifying own learning needs. To plan, implement and evaluate strategies to meet own Personal Development Plan.