Head of Information Governance | South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
| Posting date: | 08 August 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | £85,431 - £97,148 per annum inclusive of HCAS |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 07 September 2025 |
| Location: | London, SE5 8AB |
| Company: | South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 7407768/334-NCL-7361420-TA-A |
Summary
The post holder will be an experienced leader with good understanding of health and social care services, value of clinical and corporate information in health and social care, medical research with knowledge and a satisfactory track record of the application of Information Governance (IG) related national legislation, including recent and upcoming changes, strategies and policies.
The post holder will be expected to have the skills, knowledge and track record to provide leadership in relation to IG issues across the Trust and represent the Trust IG approach which enables 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 in strategic partnerships.
Career Progression pathways and development opportunities:
We are committed to get the very best out of our staff and support staff in their career aspirations. We have career pathways available, where you will be able to develop your skills and build on your experience to progress into other roles across different specialties. For this role, we offer career pathways to Senior manager roles within the IG and the wider team. In addition, we offer ongoing training and development in conjunction with the BCS membership.
The post holder will develop and implement the IG Framework in the Trust to achieve the goals in the Digital Strategy in line with the values and the objectives of the Trust, current and future strategic partnerships such as the Kings Health Partnership (KHP) and South London Partnership (SLP), lead the work programme required to fulfil the strategic goals and will be responsible to manage and lead the IG service.
The post holder will lead an advanced IG service that is fit to support a London mental health trust and its strong association with academic partners such as the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) and Kings College London. , The post holder is required to be a leading participant in the national and regional strategic health and social care initiatives by working collaboratively in partnerships, promoting the Trust’s clinical, business, technical and practical expertise and knowledge, and ensures the Trust’s compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other upcoming legislative changes.
Flexible working:
As one of the few Trusts in London we are proud to offer flexible working as part of our new ways of working, and we are happy to talk flexible working at the interview stage. In this role you will be able to work Monday to Friday in the time frames from 8am to 6pm, giving you the very best of good work life balance.
The Role sits within the Information Governance function, which forms part of the Digital Services team.
Information governance (IG) provides a framework to bring together all the legal rules, guidance and best practice that apply to the handling and security of information.
IG is about setting a high standard for the handling of information through a robust IT security assurance and complying with the law and national standards.
We ensure a high standard of information handling across the Trust, covering information security, data protection, freedom of information and privacy.
About our locations:
Maudsley Hospital(headquarters)
Our Trust headquarters is located at Denmark Hill less than 5 minutes from the train station (zone 2) and is within walking distance from the beautiful green spaces of Ruskin park and the vibrant high-street that offers great shopping opportunities and with a wide range restaurants.
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 Trust’s 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 Trust’s 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 Trust’s 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 Commissioner’s 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.
This advert closes on Sunday 31 Aug 2025