25 Nov 2021

Information Governance Team wins national Team of the Year award

The award was presented on Wednesday 24 November during the 2021 Information Governance Awards organised by the National Health and Social Care Strategic Information Governance Network (SIGN).

NHS Informatics Merseyside’s Information Governance Team has been awarded ‘Information Governance Team of the Year’ as part of the 2021 Information Governance Awards organised by the National Health and Social Care Strategic Information Governance Network (SIGN).

The ‘Team of the Year’ national honour aims to recognise those Information Governance (IG) teams who have gone above and beyond to deliver exceptional data security and information governance services.

The winners were announced during a virtual award ceremony held on the evening of Wednesday, 24 November 2021, where they were formally recognised for the work they have done in achieving high levels of data security assurance whilst also responding to the rapidly changing requirements of the pandemic during a period of significant organisational and team change.

Reflecting on the achievement, Jeanie Hedley, Head of Information Governance and Data Protection Officer, said:

“This award was open to all organisations, both public and private, within England and we were shortlisted to the final four. To win is a great achievement and could not have been achieved without the hard work and dedication of the Team over the last 18 months and more.”

Asim Patel, Managing Director of NHS Informatics Merseyside and Mersey Care Chief Digital Information Officer, said:

“Our Information Governance Team is critical to supporting the safe and effective delivery of care, ensuring data protection and security measures are applied to the availability, integrity and confidentiality of patient data. 

“In the midst of the pandemic, IG, Records and Clinical Coding colleagues from the former North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Mersey Care came together to form a single IG team. During this time, they not only supported the onboarding of new community services, offboarding Greater Manchester services and Mersey Care’s acquisition of North West Boroughs Healthcare including all the necessary procedural and legal obligations, but also had to respond to the rapidly changing requirements of the pandemic.

“For a new team to come together and achieve such high levels of assurance within such exceptional circumstances is truly inspiring and I am extremely appreciative of their hard work behind the scenes to keep those we care for safe.

“I am extremely proud that their teamwork, professionalism and perseverance has been formally recognised.”