Job overview

Working as part of the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board as Designated Clinical Officer for the TAMESIDE and OLDHAM LOCALITY, the post holder will lead the provision of a high quality, safe, effective and professional Designated Clinical Officer for SEND function capable of meeting all statutory, regulatory and NHS requirements for Tameside Locality and Local Authority.

 The SEND Designated Clinical Officer (DCO) will lead the health contribution to the Tameside and Oldham Localities ensuring that statutory duties for children and young people, aged 0 – 25 years, with special educational needs and disability are met. The post holder will act as a strategic and operational lead for the Education, Health and Care Plan Pathway in accordance with the Children’s and Families Act 2014. 

 The DCO will have responsibility for working with health colleagues, General Practitioner’s, Tameside & Oldham Locality leaders, local authority (LA) schools and colleges, seeking health advice regarding Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) children and young people, including young people in harder to reach groups e.g.  Looked After Children (LAC), Youth Offending; ensuring that the Children’s and Families Act 2014 is fully supported within health settings.

Main duties of the job

The Post Holder will:

 ·       Manage the SEND DCO function, including developing and managing the annual work plan, progress and dashboard reporting, risk and issue management.

 ·       Provide strategic direction for the local health services in meeting statutory requirements for SEND (0-25 years), identifying priorities for development, commissioning and facilitating improvement in implementation.

 ·       Designing and delivering appropriate SEND assurance and governance systems within Tameside, Oldham and the local health system.

 ·       Work closely with the Strategic Lead for SEND, Clinical leads as required or as appropriate and commissioners.

 ·       To provide oversight and assurance on the quality of health contribution in Education Health and Care Plans working with the SEND Joint Commissioning Team. To focus on the 19–25-year-olds group to ensure that the health input is outcomes focused.

 ·       Working with the LA and other partners to ensure that the child’s voice is listened to in the commissioning, delivery, monitoring and evaluation of services.

Working for our organisation

Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) are partnerships of health and care organisations that come together to plan and deliver joined up services and to improve the health and wellbeing of people who live and work in their area. Their purpose is to improve outcomes in population health and healthcare; tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience, and access; enhance productivity and value for money and support broader social and economic development in their area efficiency. This will be delivered in neighbourhood, place, combinations of places and GM system.

Our NHS People Promise

Our NHS People Promise –the promise we must all make to each other, to work together to improve the experience of working in the NHS for everyone. Like many other employers, NHS GM currently has evidence of unwarranted inequalities in the workforce, most notably in relation to minoritised ethnic, female and\or disabled staff and their intersectionality. As a result, we will use positive action measures to bring benefits to our organisation, including a wider pool of talented, skilled and experienced people from which to recruit and a better understanding of the needs of a more diverse range of customers.