Associate Designated Clinical Officer in Newcastle upon Tyne

We are seeking a dedicated and experienced ADCO to join our regional SEND team. The remit of the post covers Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) for the ICB. The post holder will act as a point of expertise for SEND, working alongside the Designated Clinical Officer (DCO), i.e., advisory, relationships, training.

Main duties of the job

You will be responsible for providing delegated SEND leadership according to your workstreams. This is an exciting opportunity to work within the ICB structure linking across NENC with the other DCOs and helping to shape the local system to deliver for children, young people and their families. If you feel you have demonstrable experience in delivering against the SEND agenda and the personality and commitment to integrate well, we would love to hear from you.

Job responsibilities

• Work as part of the team to implement and monitor SEND action plans, including liaising with other teams within the ICB such as Complex care, Safeguarding and other directorates.
• Be responsible for the delivery of plans and work programmes developed by Strategic Lead of SEND, SEND Lead and DCO's.
• Coordinate and deliver SEND audits to provide system assurance of statutory responsibilities and children and young peoples lived experience and outcomes.
• Support the DCO by ensuring that the ICB place based system is delivering statutory functions set out in the legislation (Children and Families Act 2014), statutory guidance (SEND Code of Practice, 2015) and any future iterations as result of the SEND review (2022) and SEND and AP Improvement Plan (2023). This includes multi-agency working requirements and joint commissioning arrangements with local authorities.
• Support a proactive approach to the management of quality across the LDTs and local SEND systems.
• The postholder will demonstrate a knowledge of a range of healthcare and education settings including primary and secondary care, independent sector setting and educational settings.
• The postholder will be able to work autonomously and be able to manage their workload to ensure the reviews are completed within an agreed timeframe.

Person Specification

• Registered clinical professional with evidence of current professional registration.
• Degree level qualification or evidence or academic achievement.
• Educated to degree level or equivalent level of experience of working at a senior level in specialist area.
• Evidence of post registration continued professional development / Postgraduate leadership and/or management qualification.

• Have clinical experience as a professional working with children and young people and / or SEND.
• Experience of successfully operating in and delivering priorities in a partnership environment.
• Experience in managing highly sensitive situations with patients, families, or carers and/or with wider advocating agencies.
• Experience of dealing with complex, sensitive, and difficult situations.
• Experience in evaluation, audit, outcome-based accountability.
• Experience of designing and implementing audits, surveys.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.