Job Summary
To provide senior operational and clinical leadership across Vertis Health's ASD and ADHD services for adults and children and young people, ensuring safe, timely, high-quality assessment pathways, robust governance, and an effective multidisciplinary workforce. The postholder will lead day-to-day service delivery, manage clinical quality and performance, and work closely with medical oversight to maintain patient safety and strong decision-making.

This post provides dedicated operational and people leadership across neurodevelopmental pathways so that senior clinical oversight (including medical oversight and specialist clinical input) is not saturated by day-to-day management activity. The role holds the centre on delivery, standards, and risk, while enabling the wider leadership team to focus on clinical oversight, pathway development, and system engagement.

Main duties of the job

• Provide visible, values-led leadership across the ASD and ADHD services, modelling high standards of professionalism, compassion, and accountability.
• Lead day-to-day operational delivery, including rota/capacity planning, waiting list management and triage arrangements (within governance), and ensuring safe clinic delivery.
• Hold oversight of clinical quality, ensuring assessment and review processes are consistent, evidence-informed, and delivered in line with service standards and policies.
• Lead and line-manage non-medical clinical staff within the service scope (final span of control agreed to reflect the successful applicants route and service model).
• Ensure effective supervision structures are in place (clinical/professional supervision, reflective practice, competency development, and escalation routes).
• Work with Ops/BI to agree and monitor KPIs (referrals, waits, DNAs, report timeliness, clinical safety indicators) and lead performance reviews and improvement actions.
• Maintain robust risk management, including safeguarding awareness, incident reporting, learning reviews, and escalation of clinical risk in line with governance.
• Support recruitment, induction, and retention of staff, ensuring safe onboarding and clear expectations.
• Contribute to service development and pathway improvement work, including SOPs, documentation standards, and audit/service evaluation activity.

About us
Vertis Health is a federation of general practices delivering high-quality NHS services across Worcestershire. We were founded by local primary care clinicians and are owned by the practices we serve. As a purpose-led limited company, the money we generate is reinvested into the local healthcare economy, helping to strengthen services, support innovation and improve patient care.

Our neurodevelopmental services are being built around clinical quality, meaningful outcomes and strong governance. You will join an organisation that understands NHS systems and values while giving experienced clinicians the opportunity to influence, develop and improve services.

Depending on the role, our benefits include access to the NHS Pension, structured learning and development, clinical leadership opportunities, career progression and genuine flexibility.

If you want to help build a clinically rigorous, compassionate and sustainable service, we would be pleased to hear from you.

Job responsibilities
Full Job Description attached.

• Directorate: Neurodevelopmental & Mental Health
• Accountable to: Head of Services & Associate Medical Director
• Professional/Clinical partner: Consultant Psychiatrist (designated senior medical oversight)
• Line management: Non-medical clinical team across ND services (route-dependent see below)
• Base: Worcestershire hubs (Worcester WR5 / Redditch B98) with agreed hybrid working for elements of required pathways
• Hours: 37.5 per week, Monday to Friday 09:00-17:00 (no on-call)
• Contract/Grade: £62,321.00-£72,416.00 + NHS-aligned pension, CPD & study leave. No on-call.
• Pre-employment checks: Enhanced DBS and barred lists, Safeguarding Level 3, Right to Work (UK)

Person Specification
Essential

• Direct experience working within ASD and/or ADHD assessment and review pathways, with adults and/or children and young people, sufficient to provide credible clinical leadership, governance oversight, and line management within specialist neurodevelopmental services.
• Significant post-qualification experience in mental health and/or neurodevelopmental services with demonstrable senior clinical leadership responsibilities.
• Experience leading service delivery across multidisciplinary teams, including line management, supervision structures, and performance management.
• Demonstrable understanding of clinical governance, risk management, safeguarding, and quality improvement within healthcare settings.
• Strong operational capability: ability to manage capacity, waiting lists, performance metrics, and service standards in a busy clinical environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including ability to produce high-quality documentation and lead difficult conversations appropriately.
• Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, trauma-informed practice, and psychologically safe working cultures.
• Registered Nurse (NMC) with recognised Advanced Clinical Practice qualification (or equivalent evidence of advanced level practice).
• Evidence of advanced assessment and clinical decision-making within mental health services.
• If independent prescribing is held: V300 (or equivalent) and evidence of safe prescribing practice within governance.
• HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical Psychologist).
• Doctoral-level training in Clinical Psychology (or recognised equivalent route to HCPC registration).
• Evidence of senior-level clinical leadership within psychological services and/or neurodevelopmental pathways.

Desirable

• Experience designing or improving pathways, SOPs, clinical documentation standards, or audit/service evaluation programmes.
• Training and competency in relevant assessment tools and frameworks used in ND services (commensurate with role).
• Experience of working with primary care interfaces, shared care arrangements, and wider system stakeholders.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
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.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration.