Job Description

Job Introduction

We are looking for either a Band 5 Health Professional or a Band 6 Health Professional for a role in assessing autism in the ND Pathway.



Band 5 applicants would be eligible for a progression role to Band 6 after gaining experience and successfully demonstrating competence in diagnostic assessment. This is likely to take between one and two years.



Band 6 applicants would be already experienced in working clinically with neurodivergent children and have strong diagnostic decision making skills, although these could be transferred from another area (e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy).


You'll be part of our friendly and welcoming team in Wiltshire that provide a specialist assessment service within the Neurodevelopmental Pathway for children and young people when investigating a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).


You'll work in partnership with parents/carers and the multi-disciplinary team along with other agencies.


You will be an appropriately qualified Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist, Mental Health Nurse, or Psychologist.


You will be expected to provide contributions of assessment information to the Neurodevelopmental Pathway, as well as contributing to the team in their specialist areas of knowledge. The Neurodevelopmental Pathway provides robust assessment of children and young people with suspected autism and/ or ADHD, and appropriate onward signposting and referral.


As a Neurodevelopmental Practitioner you will support the service in varied aspects of diagnostic assessment and post diagnostic advice to parents, carers, education staff and children and young people.


Main Responsibilities
Making assessment and differential diagnosis of a child's communication and social interaction needs through the use of highly specialised standardised and non-standardised assessments. Reflection on auditory, visual and kinaesthetic aspects of a child's communication, informal observation, specialist knowledge and consultation with parents/carers, and other professionals (Possibly including ADOS, virtual assessment, telephone consultation and completion of diagnostic paperwork) Use specialist knowledge to inform sound clinical judgements/decision making for case management To accurately collate key information gathered in order to come to the most appropriate diagnostic outcome through liaison with the child/ young person, their family and the Multi-Disciplinary Team

The Ideal Candidate

Essential

Recognised health professional degree qualification or equivalent (Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapist, Mental Health Nurse, Autism Practitioner) If applicable, registered with the Health Professions Council - Licence to Practice Registration with relevant professional body Knowledge of assessment tools relevant to children and young people with social communication differences and attention/energy differences Knowledge of national policies and procedures relevant to the specialist client group such as NICE guidelines Up to date knowledge of relevant research and developments in the field of autism Knowledge of evidence-based practice within the field of autism In depth knowledge of a range of appropriate interventions relevant to the client group and an ability to compare and contrast relative benefits Understanding of the roles of other professionals relevant to the client group Excellent interpersonal skills - including observation, listening and empathy skills Negotiation and problem-solving skills Excellent presentation skills both written and verbal Excellent organisational and diary management skill

Desirable

Experience of working in a neurodevelopmental assessment service which considers autism and ADHD Knowledge of the principles of clinical governance and audit Membership of relevant Clinical Excellence Network / Special Interest Group

About The Company

We change lives by transforming health and care.


Established in 2006, we are one of the UK's leading independent providers of community health and care services, working with health and care commissioners and communities to transform services with a focus on experience, efficiency and improved outcomes. We deliver and transform adult and children community health services, primary care services including urgent care, sexual health, dermatology and MSK services as well as adult social care and wellbeing services. Across England, we support communities of many millions and directly help more than half a million people each year - guided by our simple values: we care, we think, we do.


We're committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from a broad, diverse range of people who want to join our team. We're a Disability Confident Committed company, so we work to provide facilities, work environment adjustments and technical solutions to be as inclusive of everyone.


While it doesn't happen often, sometimes a role is very popular, and we'll need to close it earlier than the date we've shown here. If you're keen to join our team, we'd love to hear from you so please apply as soon as you can.


As you'd expect, safeguarding and protecting the children, young people and vulnerable adults that we work with is of the utmost importance so we have policies and procedures in place to promote safeguarding and safer working practices and everyone who joins the team is subject to a safer recruitment process, including the disclosure of criminal records and vetting checks.


Finally, we need to let you know that the company you'll work for is part of HCRG Care Group Holdings Limited and by applying for this job we'll need to process and hold information about you. If you would like to know a little more about how we use your information, please see our website's privacy policy.


Package Description

As a Band 5 or Band 6 Neurodevelopmental Practitioner you'll be part of our valued team in Wiltshire.


You will feel valued as a Band 5 or Band 6 Neurodevelopmental Practitioner within HCRG Care Group, receiving access to exclusive rewards and benefits including:

Band 5 or Band 6 salary

with NHS Pension and full Agenda for Change terms and conditions

Free tea, coffee and milk at your base location Membership of My Reward Hub, giving you access to discounts on every day purchases like grocery shopping as well as cashback and voucher offers for treats for you and those special to you Access to your wages as you earn them to help cover life's emergencies and avoid overdraft fees or high interest rates Online and face to face help with your mental and physical wellbeing - from healthy recipes and activity challenges through to post trauma support, legal, debt and life management help, as well career coaching and counselling Access to eLearning, bespoke career pathways and opportunities for continuing professional development through our 'Outstanding' learning and development team, The Learning Enterprise An open, just culture where you're encouraged to have and implement ideas which can help us deliver our purpose: changing lives through transforming health and care - backed up by at least 100,000 of ringfenced innovation funding each year * The pride of working for an organisation committed to the highest clinical and quality standards: with a majority of our rated services holding "good" or "outstanding" ratings from the Care Quality Commission