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Blog written by Matthew Hall, Head of Information Governance at UCLH
Information governance is vital, and it is only becoming more important as data and technology such as artificial intelligence are used more and more often in patient care and research.
For this reason, there could be potential career opportunities in IG for anyone interested in getting into the area.
A career in IG is varied. It definitely has its technical aspects. But IG is also about people. We speak to patients and the public about data and how we use data and keep it safe, and through this engagement we understand how the public thinks about data.
This is important because the way we handle data and information has to be in line with expectations of our patients; it is their data, and we also advise patients on what their rights are when it comes to their data.
In IG, we also exposed to fields beyond data and information governance. We deal with data protection, but also research governance, and we need some relatively specialist IT knowledge.
No day in IG is the same. You have to think on your feet, and you need to be ready for the unexpected to happen. Data is used all across the hospital, so we have to be on hand to advise or support anyone who might need us on any given day.
IG is also exciting because the field doesn’t stand still. As with technology, IG is always evolving, so there is always something new to learn.
Anyone can get into IG. There is no one pathway into it. At bands 4 and 5, we often look for people with good administrative skills, as these are readily transferable into IG. And at this stage, a genuine interest in IG is important. From there, there is a lot of scope to develop. From around band 7 and up, that’s where some more specialist qualifications would be needed.