Freedom of Information Officer | Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
| Posting date: | 23 July 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | £27,485 - £30,162 pa |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 22 August 2025 |
| Location: | Bedford, MK42 9AP |
| Company: | Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 7195680/418-COR5680-CW |
Summary
The Freedom of Information Officer will be a member of the Information Governance (IG) Department which is made up of the Head of Information Governance, IG Manager, Deputy IG Manager, IG Officers and IG Administrators/SAR.
The IG Department is responsible for the management and coordination of the Trusts compliance with the FOI Act, Data Protection Act and Access to Health Records Act, national requirements, legal and statutory obligations.
The primary aim of the role is to provide support to IG Management by coordinating requests received under the FOI Act and ensuring responses are provided in line with the requirements of the Act.
• Provide appropriate support to ensure operational processes are followed when requests for information under the Data Protection Act and the FOI Act are received
• Liaise with staff across the Trust to ensure legal deadlines are met.
• Work as part of the IG team to ensure information exempt from disclosure is protected as required by law.
• Provide support to ensure requests for information sharing are processed as required to enable an informed decision to be made.
• Assist the IG Manager in identifying where exemptions may apply and where the Public Interest Test needs to be applied
• Assisting those who are contributing to requests for information to ensure the information that is provided meets the requirements of the Act.
• Build working relations with other NHS Trusts and neighbouring public organisations to ensure a consistent countywide approach to blanket FOI requests and to identify lessons learnt.
• Maintain electronic and paper filing systems in relation to FOI and ensuring disclosure of requests are available for uploading to the Trusts public website.
• To identify trends in information requests and establish whether information requested could be more readily available in the future.
• Compile statistical reports on the numbers of requests received, the time taken to respond to them and their level of complexity.
• Developing and maintaining extensive knowledge of the FOI Act and changes in legislation
• Any other duties as required by the IG Manager
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.
We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.
Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job.
Please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification for a full detailed overview of the duties and responsibilities.
This advert closes on Wednesday 6 Aug 2025