Designated Clinical Officer

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The DCO will:

Be a strategic lead, to ensure that the ICB is meeting its statutory duties for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), aged 0-25 years. They will provide assurance and scrutiny, as well as driving improvement.  

Ensure the health system’s compliance with the legislation and spirit of the SEND Code of Practice, leading to improved outcomes for children and young people with SEND. 

Lead the coordination of the ICB and health providers in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough in relation to children and young people with SEND, working in partnership with education, social care services and the voluntary and community sector. 

Support health providers to co-produce service direction, improvements and the values on which they are based, with users of the services. 

Promote a culture that embraces equality and strives continuously to reduce inequality in both access and outcomes for all residents in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. 

Undertake work to identify needs of children and young people with SEND and their families, to inform joint commissioning. 

Act as an expert resource for families and professionals, in relation to health services for children and young people with SEND. 

Organisational Arrangements
Accountable To: Deputy Director of Safeguarding & SEND NHS Central East ICB
Reports To: Joint reporting arrangements EEC & Central East ICB
Responsible For: CYPS Director, EEC & AD of Safeguarding and SEND, Central East ICB

Main Duties & Responsibilities
Planning and Performance
 
Present complex information on all aspects of function practice in a clear and audience-appropriate manner, to senior leaders and board level groups.  

Develop and implement qualitative and quantitative measures to determine performance against the improvement strategies.  

Report progress and assurance against the strategy through personal representation at senior leadership forums and by written reports to appropriate boards.  

Operate in a highly political and sensitive environment. 

Strategic Oversight of Health Services for Children and Young People with SEND 

Have oversight across all health professionals delivering healthcare to individual disabled children, young people and those with special educational needs. Including a focus on:  

Processes for identification of disabled children and young people and those with special educational needs, particularly pre-school children.  

The process for securing health assessment and key principles for health advice in Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans.  

Oversight and assurance of health provision specified in EHC Plans including the commissioning of provision in the health sections of the EHC Plans.  

Oversight and coordination of all health services are reflected in the Local Offer and that health providers are cooperating with the local authority in its development/review.  

Contributing to the Complex Needs Panel and any other panel as directed by the ICB.  

Training and upskilling of health providers to improve EHC Plans and compliance with SEND reforms. 

Ensure that best practice is developed and delivered at organisational and departmental levels.  

Challenge ways of working and influence other senior leaders to realign their practice where necessary.  

Develop transition to adulthood pathways, across the health system. 

Lead the identification and prioritisation of vulnerable groups across the health system, including availability and quality of provision.

Support the local area approach to personal budgets and personal health budgets, working closely with the ICB 

Support local system and health providers, in preparation for CQC and Ofsted Inspections related to SEND. 

Ensure system wide representation in SEND internal reviews and provide ICB leadership for local area SEND inspections. 

Provide leadership, coordination and clinical oversight relating to SEND mediation and Tribunal cases involving health, ensuring compliance with Tribunal orders and supporting ICB responses to recommendations. 

Audit, Monitoring, Research and Record Keeping  

Ensure that ICB policies, procedures and standards in relation to children and young people with SEND are safe, evidence-based maintained and updated.  

Determine the need for and formulate new policies, as and when required.  

Ensure that there are robust ICB procedures that reflect national and local standards, within all local health providers.  

Contribute directly to the review and updating partner agencies' procedures/guidelines and develop appropriate inter-agency protocols and evidence-based practice guidance to support the procedures.  

Ensure all processes and systems take account of safeguarding standards. 

Lead monitoring and assurance of the timeliness, quality and sufficiency of health advice provided for Education, Health and Care Needs Assessments and Plans.

Establish and oversee a system-wide quality assurance framework for SEND health advice and health contributions to Education, Health and Care Plans.

Communication  

Work with children, young people and their families as equals, to ensure that coproduction is embedded in the local area. 

Engage and liaise with all children’s health service providers relevant to the local area, to enable implementation of statutory requirements for SEND. 

Develop productive and effective relationships with senior leaders in each local authority to identify and enact opportunities for strengthened integration and joint commissioning, sensitive to local needs. 

Develop effective working relationships with community groups and voluntary and community sector providers within Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and, where appropriate, across the ICB in support of strengthening outcomes for children and young people. 

Nurture key relationships and develop and sustain networks including, where necessary, systemwide, regional and national contacts. 

People Management 

Act as a clinical lead, with responsibility for ensuring your team members have appropriate line management, clinical supervision, work evaluation and staff development. 

Motivate and develop staff within the team, to ensure that they can deliver the statutory responsibilities of Central East ICB.   

Recruit as necessary and performance manage a team that delivers a range of tasks within a matrix structure in a busy and challenging environment. 

Develop and implement strategies for achieving and improving team performance. 

Use appraisals and development policies and procedures and ensure that appraisals and reviews of objectives are undertaken regularly. 

Maintaining own professional development and requirement to take part in appraisal.

Clinical and Practice Governance

Observe and maintain strict confidentiality with regards to any patient/family/staff/records and information in line with the requirements of the Data Protection Act. 

Any data that is taken/shared as part of a phone call or transported, faxed, or transferred electronically must be undertaken with regard to the Trust Information Governance and Information Security policies.    

The post holder must adhere to the Trust risk assessment and risk management processes 

The post holder must adhere to infection control policies and procedures 

It is a condition of your employment that you are currently registered with HCPC or NMC and it is your responsibility to maintain your professional registration. 

Undertake mandatory training and any other training relevant to the role as required by East of England Community Health & Care NHS Trust.  

The post holder must participate in clinical and safeguarding audits as required 

Provide patients and their families /carers with information on standards they should expect from the team 

The post holder is required to participate in relevant emergency preparedness process for their team.