Head of Information Governance and Assurance

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.

Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup.

We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 - the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.

To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here.

Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as "good" or "outstanding" in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.

Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.

LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King's College London's GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.

We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.

Job overview

The Head of Information Governance will provide the Trust with leadership in Information Governance (IG) and the wider Information Assurance framework, to be the prime source of expert advice and policy development, to create and maintain high level awareness, profile and understanding of the strategic and practical importance of IG, and to assure the Trust Board that it is meeting its statutory and legal obligations.

Leading the ongoing development of the information governance function across the Trust, this role will be responsible for creating and maintaining high level awareness, profile and understanding of the strategic and practical importance of information governance across the organisation, and to assure the Trust Board that the Trust is meeting its statutory and legal obligations with respect to information Governance.

The Trust Board and senior management team is committed to ensuring high standards of Information Governance across Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and as a key driver of the Trust's ability to deliver excellence in all aspects of patient care.

The post-holder will head the Information Governance Department to provide a single point of knowledge and expertise to advise the Trust Board and senior management teams on statutory and legal requirements in relation to Information Governance, and will be responsible for ensuring the compliance of the Trust with these.

Main duties of the job

As the Head of Information Governance, the post holder will also be expected to lead the development of the following areas into a comprehensive and co-ordinated work programme that is in place, and fully embedded at the local level, in divisions across the Trust:

1. Confidentiality
2. Data Protection
3. Information Assurance
4. Caldicott
5. IT Governance
6. Information Sharing
7. Access control mechanisms (Registration Authority)
8. Freedom of Information

Working for our organisation

Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:

1. Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
2. Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
3. Improving the experience of staff with disability
4. Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
5. Making equalities mainstream

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

In this role, the post holder will also:

1. Lead the Trust's Information Governance team to ensure that the Trust's Information Governance Agenda is evolving to support the changes in care pathways and commissioning structures within the NHS.
2. Ensure that the Trust's systems and information collection processes are aligned to the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (CAF), ISO 27001/2 and compliant with the Data Protection Act 2018 as well as other regulatory frameworks in the aspects of confidentiality and data protection.
3. Lead on the provision of expert advice to the Trust on Data Protection and Information Assurance.
4. Co-ordinate the agenda setting and draft papers for the Trust's Information Governance and Security Steering Group (IGSSG).
5. Attend local, regional and national information governance meetings on behalf of the Trusts and report back any relevant developments and issues to the wider team.
6. Lead on ensuring that the Trust complies with all DSPT/CAF standards and ensure resulting action plans are robustly articulated, monitored, appropriately escalating and prioritising areas of risk.

Person specification

Qualifications and Training

Essential criteria

• Masters or equivalent
• IT Security qualification
• Prince2 or equivalent project management experience

Desirable criteria

• CISSP
• ITIL Foundation

Experience

Essential criteria

• Substantial experience in Information governance or related field to include experience at a senior level
• Practical implementation of GDPR/DPA and Information Governance Assurance
• Experience of implementing organisation wide information governance strategies, policies and procedures
• Experience of cross-team and cross-discipline working
• Experience of completion and submission of the Data Security and Protection Toolkit/CAF

Desirable criteria

• Registration Authority experience.

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria

• Detailed specialist knowledge of ISO27001/2, Freedom of Information Act 2000, Data Protection Act 2018 and Information Governance
• Ability to lead a team
• Ability to communicate effectively at all levels in a complex, multi-disciplinary environment, both orally and in writing.
• Self-motivated and able to motivate others.
• Understanding and knowledge of confidentiality guidance.
• Understanding of the role of the Caldicott Guardian in the NHS
• Proven ability to work with a high degree of autonomy and decision making.
• Ability to prioritise between competing demands and allocate resources accordingly.
• Sound political judgement and astuteness in understanding and working with complex policy, and diverse interest groups, and common sense in knowing when to brief "up the line".

Desirable criteria

• Understanding and knowledge of records management guidance (e.g. 'For the Record')
• Understanding and knowledge of the Human Rights Act.
• Understanding and knowledge of Health Informatics
• Understanding of Public Records Act 1958/67
• Understanding of Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
• In possession of advanced keyboard skills and proficient with Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and complex project planning and management tools, such as MS Project and Visio.

We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date, please apply early. We do not contact applicants with the outcome of the shortlisting. If you have been shortlisted, you will receive an invite to an assessment day or interview.

As a local employer and anchor institution we work closely with our community to recruit locally and we welcome applications from the widest variety of people to ensure our workforce are reflective of the local communities which we serve. We encourage all suitable candidates to apply including if you are Black, Asian or other ethnic minorities, live with a disability (visible or not) or are LGBT+. We have a number of active staff networks including Disability, LGBT+, Multicultural Inclusion and Women's staff networks to bring staff together and celebrate diversity across our whole workforce.

Please note, not all roles will meet the criteria for a skilled worker visa.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

• JD (PDF, 321.9KB)
• Head of IG person spec (PDF, 272.4KB)
• Working at LGT (PDF, 4.2MB)