Meet the IG team

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Our team of over 40 information governance (IG) specialists, with almost 300 years of IG experience between them, ensure that we have the expertise and depth of resource to provide a resilient, responsive service, with the ability to mobilise additional resource rapidly should the need arise.

We understand the importance of being subject matter experts who are able to interpret the legislation and guidance into practical and meaningful policies and procedures, underpinned by concise IG training. Our team ensure they are well versed and up to date with the ever-changing IG landscape, meaning you will always have the most relevant guidance and support, whenever you need us.

Read on to find out more about our Head of IG, Hayley Gidman, and our Strategic IG Leads, Charlotte Mountford and Helen Grocott.

  • Hayley Gidman, Head of Information Governance

     

    Qualifications

    • IBITGQ UK General Data Protection Regulation Foundation 

    • IBITGQ UK General Data Protection Regulation Practitioner

    • Prince 2 Foundation and Practitioner

    • International Board for IT Governance Qualifications – Certified ISO27001 ISMS Lead Auditor

     

    Key skills

    • Service development and efficiencies

    • Data protection and GDPR application

    • Converting complex legislative guidance into practical, understandable guidance

    • Subject matter expert in information risk, freedom of information (FOI) and subject access requests (SAR)

    • Team improvements and efficiencies

    • Knowledge and experience from community services, primary care and commissioning in the NHS as well as a local government background

    Experience

    • Leading the Information Governance (IG) service of 40+ IG specialists, working across our regional delivery team supporting integrated care boards, primary care and NHS trust clients, our internal delivery team ensuring NHS Midlands and Lancashire remains a safe and compliant organisation and our access to information teams, delivering FOI and SAR for our customers and our own organisation.

    • Data Protection Officer for NHS ML, integrated care boards and GPs.

    • IG lead for one of the first vanguard sites for population health management, supporting the Lancashire and South Cumbria health system to show how data could be used safely, securely and legally to the benefit of the local population and to improve health inequalities.

    • Over 16 years of NHS experience.

    Starting from a team of three, Hayley has built the service to where it is today with the support of the management team. Initially the service provided IG, FOI and SAR for one organisation (Stoke-on-Trent Primary Care Trust) which included a variety of clinical teams including school nurses, district nurses, health visitors and sexual health services. This gave a wealth of knowledge and experience around complex issues such as handling children’s data, assessment of Fraser competence for children, safeguarding, and special category data.

    As the landscape of the NHS changed, Hayley evolved the service into what it has become today. A team that supports multiple organisations all with differing needs and service requirements. The team have a structure in place that allows for them to develop and promote within the structure which has given a significant level of stability and much lower turnover of staff promoting out of the service.

    In 2018 Hayley implemented the IG Hub which saw the introduction of a ‘first point of contact’ triage system helping the team deal with the volume of support requests while maximising the use of subject matter experts' time to support more complex requests.

    Hayley is also Data Protection Officer for a significant number of organisations and is supported in her role by the IG team which provides even greater resilience and accessibility to a wealth of IG knowledge. 

  • Charlotte Mountford, Strategic IG Lead

    Qualifications 

    • BA (Hons) Degree in Law 

    • Diploma in Legal Practice (LPC) 

    • IBITGQ UK General Data Protection Regulation Foundation 

    • IBITGQ UK General Data Protection Regulation Practitioner 

    • Prince 2 Foundation and Practitioner 

    • Diploma in Leadership and Management 

     

    Key skills 

    • Strategy and planning 

    • Change management 

    • Continuous improvement/efficiencies 

    • GDPR application 

    • Project management

    Experience 

    • Leading the Information Governance (IG) service delivery team containing 15+ IG specialist consultants to deliver services to multiple integrated care boards, primary care and NHS trust clients, along with independent clients from other sectors 

    • Building an IG function and team ‘from scratch’ including developing the appropriate service model to deliver across the largest health service provider geographical area in the country. 

    • Operational and strategic leadership of corporate services including IG, IT, finance, audit and risk, clinical planning and people services. 

    • Development and implementation of a health service provider digital strategy and 10-year implementation plan including project management. 

    • Data Protection Officer (DPO). 

    Following working as a Legal Advisor for the CAB, Charlotte spent nine years working in Australia for the Government of Western Australia (WA), first in their Legal Services Division for two years and then moving into the Department of Health. Charlotte spent four years as the Information Governance Lead for the largest health service provider in WA before moving into a more overarching role as Principal Consultant for Corporate Services for three and a half years leading the operational and strategic management for IG, IT, finance, clinical planning, audit and risk and people services. Charlotte has been with the NHS Midlands and Lancashire (ML) IG Team for two years which means in total, she has worked in IG for over a decade. Over the past two years Charlotte has lead the team post management of change from supporting clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to ICBs and successfully expanded NHS ML’s client base to include multiple trusts, providers and primary care services whilst managing IG consultants and the delivery team. 

     

  • Helen Grocott, Strategic Information Governance Lead

    Qualifications

    • IBITGQ UK General Data Protection Regulation Practitioner

    • Freedom of Information (FOI) Level 2

    • Data Protection Level 2

    • MSc Public Health and Health Promotion

     

     

     

    Key skills

    • Explaining complex information governance (IG) issues in an understandable way

    • Data Protection Officer (DPO) advice and guidance

    • Freedom of information (FOI) and subject access request (SAR) knowledge

    • Team improvements and efficiencies

    • Knowledge and experience from both an acute and a commissioning NHS background

    Experience

    • Team management for over 20 IG specialists

    • Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) management and support, including liaising with internal departments to further explain the requirements and with auditors to discuss and review submitted evidence

    • Liaising with both third-party suppliers and other NHS clients to understand services, products and needs

    • Provision of a DPO function to both NHS ML and customers

    • Extensive working knowledge of FOI and SAR

    • Over 15 years of NHS experience

    From a primary care trust, to acute trusts in different parts of the country, and then to a large commissioning support unit, Helen has gained NHS and IG experience in variety of settings. Now as Strategic IG Lead for NHS ML, Helen oversees a team of over 20 IG specialists who provide an IG service to NHS ML itself, but also to our customers and our FOI and SAR customers in particular which include ICBs and NHS trusts. Helen worked with the team during the change from CCGs to ICBs to ensure a smooth transition. The implementation of the IG hub model in Helen’s team means customer queries are processed in the most efficient and timely manner, and regular reviews of our internal processes help to ensure this is maintained.

    Helen plays a significant part in NHS ML's DPO function, providing an objective view point on topics such as breaches, Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), or system implementation.

    Helen provides reports to NHS ML and customers in a format that clearly explains IG topics and work programmes in an understandable format, including where efficiencies for processes have been found.

     

Contact us for more information on mlcsu.ig@nhs.net or 01782 916 875.

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