Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust celebrates diversity and promotes equal opportunities; we are committed to challenging and eliminating racism and other forms of discrimination and advancing and promoting equality of opportunity in the provision of services and creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
We take positive action to support disadvantaged groups and also particularly encourage applications from ethnically diverse, disabled and LGBTQIA+ people that are under-represented in our workforce. Furthermore we welcome applications from reservists and ex-armed forces personnel as we recognise the benefits of the values, skills, training and experience that they bring to their work with us.
Using AI to support your application
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a helpful tool when preparing your application, supporting you to organise and structure your application and present your experiences clearly. However, we want to hear about your experiences and achievements. Please ensure everything you submit is truthful, accurate, and reflects your own work and experience. Your authentic story is the best way to help us understand who you are and what you can bring to the role. If content appears to be copied or misrepresented, it may impact the outcome of your application. We encourage you to use AI responsibly as a support tool, not a substitute for your own voice. Your experiences matter, let them shine.
Job overview
Are you an experienced Information Governance professional looking to take the next step in your career? Do you have the leadership skills, technical expertise, and drive to help shape Information Governance services across both primary and secondary care?
Main duties of the job
A key aspect of this role will be leading and developing our growing Data Protection Officer as a Service (DPOaaS) offering to GP Practices and Primary Care Networks (PCNs). You will act as a trusted advisor to primary care organisations, providing expert guidance on data protection, confidentiality, information sharing, records management, and compliance with UK GDPR and NHS information governance requirements.
Working closely with senior leaders, clinicians, practice managers, digital teams, and external partners, you will help drive compliance, support digital innovation, and ensure information is used safely, securely, and effectively across health and care services.
This is an exciting opportunity to take on a varied and influential role, helping to shape the future of Information Governance within an organisation committed to digital excellence, continuous improvement, and high-quality patient care.
Working for our organisation
Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 1.4 million people across our region and are also commissioned for services that cover the North West, North Wales and the Midlands.
We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.
At the heart of all we do is our commitment to ‘perfect care’ – care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together. We’re currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.
Flexible working requests will be considered for all roles.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Deputy Head of Information Governance will be a senior member of the Information Governance (IG) Team and will lead the operational, day-to-day management of the following areas of IG, so they operationally support the clinical and business objectives of the Trust and other partner organisations it provides services to (eg General Practices (GPs)).
- Data Protection
- Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulations
- Data Security and Protection Toolkit
- Information Risk Management
- Information Sharing and Confidentiality (Caldicott Principles)
- Access to Records and Subject Access Requests
The post-holder will possess a high standard of interpersonal, influencing and communication skills, have excellent technical skills and a strong desire to improve the quality of IG within the Trust and partner organisations. They will be experienced in writing reports on complex IG issues and in dealing with external stakeholders such as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to degree level within a relevant discipline or equivalent experience
- Evidence of Continuous Professional Development
Desirable criteria
- Recognised professional qualification (eg ISEB) or equivalent experience
- PRINCE2
Knowledge/Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of working in a senior management position within IG and negotiating and influencing a variety of senior staff
- Specialist knowledge of IG, Sharing and Risk Management and improvement planning
- Extensive expert knowledge of key legislation (eg Freedom of Information Act 2000, Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR, Children’s Act 2004, Human Rights Act 1998, Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations, Common Law Duty of Confidentiality, etc)
- Project and change management methodologies
- Creating and delivering training to staff at all levels
- Data Security and Protection Toolkit
- Creating and undertaking audits, analysing findings and writing reports and action plans
- Ability to work autonomously and make decisions on difficult and complex issues
- Planning over short, medium and long-term timeframes and adjusting plans and resource requirements accordingly
- Able to maintain confidentiality and trust and deal with difficult situations tactfully
Desirable criteria
- Experience of working in the NHS
- Knowledge of information systems within the NHS
- Knowledge of both the Primary and Secondary Care Sectors
- Professional memberships (eg British Computer Society, IHRIM, etc)
Skills
Essential criteria
- Leadership and coaching skills
- Excellent presentation and communication skills
- Organisational, motivational and interpersonal skills
- Ability to analyse and assimilate complex facts and situations and formulate a range of options and plans, both short- and long-term
- Negotiation, influencing and problem-solving skills
- Ability to respond to sudden, unexpected and/or diverse demands and expectations
- Managing own workload and problem-solving queries using own initiative
- Able to work under pressure and to tight and often changing deadlines
As a Disability Confident Employer, we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants who consider themselves to be disabled who meet the minimum (essential) criteria for the role in the person specification. If you would like your application to be considered under the Trust’s guaranteed interview scheme you can indicate this in the personal information section of your online application form.
Should you require a reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process please email
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