Specialist health roles in SEND

Each Integrated Care Board (ICB) should provide a Designated Medical Officer (DMO) or a Designated Clinical Officer (DCO). The roles were developed as part of the Children and Families Act (2014).

In South Tyneside we have a DCO and they play a key role in implementing the Children and Families Act reforms and supporting joined up working between health services and local authorities.  

They make sure the health needs of children and young people with SEND are identified and met.

There are 3 key areas of responsibility:

• Ensuring an oversight of health needs and provision.
• A coordination role in terms of service providers and partner organisation
• A strategic role within joint commissioning of services and coproduction

Our DCO is a registered nurse and health visitor and works with health and local authority partners across the SEND system in South Tyneside.

The DCO role is key in supporting the Integrated Care Board (ICB) in meeting its statutory responsibilities for children and young people with SEND. They are a resource for advice and support on quality for SEND within the ICB and local area SEND partnerships.

Responsibilities

Their responsibilities include: 

• providing strategic leadership
• making sure the health workforce is engaged and working effectively
• working with South Tyneside Parent Carer Forum, SENDIASS, the Council and schools, and advising on health and where to find information
• working with the SEND team and health providers to improve the co-ordination and quality of Education, Health and Care Plans, and improve communication between services
• identifying key issues around SEND to inform the commissioning (buying) of services
• attending the SEND Panels

The voices of parents and carers, children and young people and other practitioners are heard through:

• Individual appointments
• Bi -monthly SEND Health Café (a meeting of health SEND leads across local health care chaired by DCO)
• Monthly intelligence sharing meeting where SENDIASS identify individual concerns from parents and identify emerging themes for commissioners to address
• Attending SEND panel

This information is fed back to commissioners, service leads and governance boards to make sure the needs of parents and carers, children and young people, and other practitioners are heard.