Head of Information Governance

Job responsibilities

Key responsibilities and skills

Leadership

• Lead the development, delivery and management of the IG function that is fit to support the vision and digital aspirations of a mental health trust to empower service users, support clinicians, enable research, improve productivity, and support organisational performance with digital tools, technology and best use of data.
• Influence and promote the maximum and effective utilisation of clinical and corporate information for the benefit of service users and the greater good of the public in line with relevant legislation, health and social care standards, ethical principles.
• Represent and promote the Trusts IG vision and approach to influence strategic debate and policy in strategic partnerships, regional and national forums.
• Act in an advisory role internally in the Trust and externally in strategic groups and networks that are relevant for the Trusts strategic goals to lead new developments, introduction of emerging technologies, better use of information assets that will enhance treatment and care options with better outcomes for service users, flexible and efficient professional practice for staff, compliant and lawful clinical and corporate operations for the Trust.
• Lead the IG team to continuously improve services promoting innovation, developing staff and setting objectives to ensure that services are provided to agreed scope and quality targets within available financial resources.
• Create a vision for the future of IG in the Trust and key partnerships, clearly and enthusiastically communicate it, together with supportive objectives and operational plans.
• Ensure that the Trust Executive, senior managers, and the IG team understand and can see how the vision, objectives and operational plans link to the vision and objectives of the overall organisation.
• Create and maintain a culture which encourages and recognises efficient, creativity and innovation.
• Lead the development, operation and monitoring of a safe haven function that will maximise the secondary use of clinical information for longitudinal biomedical research using ethical governance procedures such as consent models, practical alternatives such as anonymisation/pseudonymisation and enhance research value by effectively and appropriately linking and merging health and social care data from other resources, organisations and sectors for the benefit of service users and the public.
• Lead the development and implementation of the Trust IG framework to achieve the strategic goals of the Digital Services, the Trust, and all strategic partnerships, such as the Integrated Care Systems, the SLP and the KHP in line with organisational values and national standards.
• Develop strategic working relationships with partner organisations, strategic and advisory groups, and networks to lead, support and contribute to collaborative work to disseminate good IG practice developed in the Trust regionally and nationally.
• Promote the value and importance of effective IG throughout the organisation, in key partnerships, strategic regional and national groups and networks.
• Provide expert advice and guidance to health professionals, managers, researchers, other relevant members of staff, service users, families and carers on IG and practical implications of the new data protection legislation.
• Provide expert advice and guidance on innovative developments to further effective, secure, and lawful utilisation of clinical and corporate information to key strategic partners, regional and national groups in order to develop a collaborative working relationship and promote exemplar developments in the Trust.

Managerial

• Manage the recruitment and selection of IG staff with appropriate skills and knowledge.
• Provide leadership and guidance to coach, mentor, direct the members of the IG team.
• Develop and maintain an IG function that is agile and complaint to stay in tune with the Digital Strategy, the Trust vision, the Local Digital Roadmap in SE and SW London.
• Ensure that the learning, training and development of IG staff meets the current and emerging needs of the service.
• Provide leadership to support and advise IG staff when they need it especially during periods of setback and change.
• Motivate and support IG staff to achieve their work and development objectives and provide recognition when they are successful.
• Empower IG staff to develop their own ways of working, take their own decisions within agreed boundaries, encourage the team to take the lead in their own areas of expertise and show willingness to follow this lead.
• Ensure that any issues of staff performance and disciplinary issues are dealt with in accordance with organisational policy.
• Develop, manage and evaluate stakeholder relationships to enable the implementation of the IG strategic goals.
• Manage and maintain the participation of members of staff in organisation wide initiatives and requirements in relation to IG issues.
• Contribute to the overall management of the Trust as a member of the Digital Senior Management Team and by way of a programme of work as agreed with the Chief Information Officer, Chief Privacy and Assurance Officer, Chief Technology Officer the Caldicott Guardian, the SIRO and relevant IG Committees
• Develop and implement a customer focused and service user centred service model and culture.

Information Governance

• Lead the collation, completion and submission of the Data Security and Protection Toolkit submission.
• Develop strategies and plans to promote and develop good IG practice within the organisation and to embed such good practice in organisational culture.
• Develop, manage and coordinate a robust IG programme of work within the organisation in line with the Data Protection Act 2018, Freedom of Information Act 2000, Caldicott requirements, Information Sharing Processes and other related legislation and guidance.
• Promote the good IG practice based on the Trusts relevant strategies in key partnerships such as the SLP and the local ICSs, strategic regional and national groups and collaborative networks.
• Provide updates and expert advice to senior leaders in the Trust and in strategic partnerships on issues that relate to information governance.
• Work closely with the Data Protection Officer, Caldicott Guardian, the CCIO, the SIRO, the CIO and the CPAO to lead the development and delivery of the Trust IG Framework in line with relevant legislation, health and social care standards.
• Monitor and manage compliance with IG related national legislation (Data Protection Act, Freedom of Information Act etc), industry security standards (such as ISO27001) and health and social care IG standards.
• Advise the organisation and key partnerships / strategic networks to design, develop and monitor processes, policies and strategies to enable effective, lawful and secure use of clinical information for secondary uses such as research to maximise the value of such information for the benefit of service users.
• Lead the development of Trust-wide IG and other relevant Digital policies that are compliant, clear and easy to understand.
• Ensure the organisation successfully manages the risk associated with information and technology through Trust wide standards and compliance with those standards.
• Ensure processes and awareness are in place for information related incidents to be appropriately reported, escalated and investigated, lessons learnt are disseminated across the organisation.
• Lead reviews and advise on breaches of information security and confidentiality.
• Provide expert advice and guidance to members of staff and other stakeholders on IG matters.
• Provide expert advice on national strategies and complex legislation affecting the IG of the organisation ensuring the organisation is aware of changes that may require adjustments in the Trust approach.
• Lead, participate and contribute in organisational, regional and national committees, groups and networks to determine and implement national and local policies, protocols and procedures.
• Lead the monitoring of information processing against agreed standards by undertaking inspections and assurance audits of information security and confidentiality arrangements within the organisation.
• Engage service users and carers in the development of organisational IG policies to ensure increased awareness of information rights, purposes for which information is to be used and shared and obtaining consent.
• Lead the development of regular reports and communications on IG matters within and beyond the organisation.
• Lead the development and delivery an IG awareness and training programme of activities that meets the needs of the Trust workforce.
• Promote professional and corporate responsibility to safeguard confidential clinical information handled and exchanged within the Trust and with partner organisations.
• Lead the training of large groups of staff in confidentiality, information security, freedom of information and other information governance subjects.
• Lead the investigation and response to formal information requests, complaints, regulatory notices from external organisations and regulators.
• Provide lead point of contact with the Information Commissioners Office on behalf of the Trust.
• Manage the processes to enable effective sharing of information within the organisation and with partner organisations in line with national legislation and policies.
• Develop assurance checks on compliance to internal Digital Services and Trust processes and national best practice standards.
• Contribute to the development of a culture of openness allowing appropriate information to flow freely.
• Ensure the development and effective administration of a document management system.

Qualifications

Essential

• Educated at least to master's level (or equivalent professional qualification) and acceptable working track record within a Digital/ information environment with relevant and demonstrable ongoing professional training undertaken.
• Considerable experience working in an Digital/patient information, information governance, digital risk and quality management environment (A)
• Evidence of professional development (A)
• Prince 2 trained at Foundation or Practitioner level (A)
• ITIL Service Management Foundation (A)
• CoBIT or similar (A)
• CISPP, HCISPP or similar (A)

Desirable

• Member of a professional body (e.g. BCS) (A)

Experience, Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• Extensive experience as a senior manager in the information governance area (A/I)
• Specialist knowledge, good understanding, and experience of applications of the Data Protection Act (2018) and the Freedom of Information Act (2000), Caldicott Principles (A/I)
• Specialist knowledge, good understanding, and experience of applications of the national information governance and security standards set by the Department of Health and NHS Digital (A/I)
• Good understanding of risks to information and experience of managing information risks (A/I)
• Good understanding of service user consent, knowledge of consent in relation to mental capacity and experience of practical consent models (A/I)
• Knowledge and extensive experience of use of clinical information for medical research, service evaluation and audit (A/I)
• Knowledge of practicable alternatives to using identifiable clinical information and demonstrable experience of their application and implementation (A/I)
• Knowledge of relevant advisory bodies, regulators and experience of satisfactorily communicating with and utilising the expertise of these bodies (A/I)
• Knowledge of information systems and standards in the NHS (A)
• Knowledge of information security standards and experience of managing information security in a large organisation (A/I)
• Thorough and up to date knowledge of legal and compliance issues relevant to NHS Digital standards (A/I)
• Knowledge and experience of fundamental difference between management and leadership, a range of different leadership styles and how to select and apply these to different situations and people (I)
• Experience of operational management of staff and leadership (A/I)
• Experience of dealing with staff performance and disciplinary issues (A/I)
• Experience of working and engaging with a variety of senior staff (A/I)
• Experience of issues of service user empowerment in a mental health environment (I)
• Experience of the development of clear and unequivocal standards, procedures and policies followed by successful implementation and review (A/I)
• Experience of dealing with a broad range of complex activities with adequate planning and organisational skills (A/I)
• Experience of budget management and contract monitoring (A)
• Experience of planning and delivering specialist training to staff at various levels (A
• History of successful project management using Prince 2 as their project management methodology (A)
• Knowledge of equalities and how these may impact in management situations (A/I)
• Knowledge of Mental health services and awareness of mental health issues (A)
• Experience of multi-professional and multi-agency collaboration (I)
• Collaborating with teams to exploit local utility of Digital solutions (A)
• Experience of strategy development and implementation of strategic goals (I)
• Experience of business case development (A)
• Communication of Digital concepts and service issues to a wide range of staff (A)
• Effective leadership, coaching, mentoring and management skills (A/I)
• Excellent written, verbal, and other media communications / presentation skills (A/I)
• Ability to customise style of communication in accordance with the requirements of the target audience (A)
• Excellent analytical, clear, and concise report, policy and guidelines writing skills (A)
• Excellent and constructive feedback skills (I)
• Leading by example (A/I)
• Ability to set clear and achievable objectives (A/I)
• Ability to motivate, empower (A/I)
• Ability to manage conflict (A/I)
• Ability to handle highly complex and sensitive information for communication with staff at all levels, including senior managers, executive directors and the Trust Board (A/I)
• Ability to work collaboratively in regional and national networks (A/I)
• Ability to establish credibility with senior managers, clinicians, service users and with representatives of external agencies (A/I) Ability to respond to diverse demands and expectations (A/I)
• Ability to work to achieve agreed objectives independently working within broad organisational and departmental policies (A/I)
• Ability to lead by example, act as a specialist in own area and motivate teams (I)
• Ability to seek advice, consult and obtain feedback (I)
• Ability to exercise strong leadership to teams outside the line management span of control, internal and external operational and strategic groups and networks (A/I)
• Ability to work to achieve agreed objectives with a freedom to do this in own way working within broad professional policies acting using own initiative and without reference to manager (I)
• Ability to work autonomously as specialist in information governance whilst being guided by national policy and regulations with ability and track record of interpreting these. (I)
• Ability to apply analytical skills to resolve complex issues and return with decisions and solutions that are clear and easy to understand (I)
• Ability to facilitate a customer focussed and service user centred culture. (A/I)
• A logical and sensible approach to problem solving. (I)
• Change management skills (A/I)
• Have the ability to organise and prioritise workload and be able to work under pressure dealing with complex issues (A/I)
• To analyse and apply user information to ICT problem solving (I)
• Ability to express complex issues, both orally and in writing in a concise and clear manner for a range of audiences. (I)
• Strong negotiation, influencing and persuading skills. (A/I)
• Pro-active and self-motivated in completing work to a high standard in conjunction with other staff (A/I)
• Excellent team skills and ability to work with members of own and other teams and departments at all levels of the organisation. (A/I)

Desirable

• Use of ITIL in a work environment (I)
• Experience of managing and developing Service Level Agreements (A)

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).