Dawn Monaghan

Head of Data Sharing & Privacy Unit, NHS England

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A graduate of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Dawn has worked in the public sector for 33 years. She began her career in the early 80’s at the BBC as a TV producer but changes to the way in which the BBC operated attracted her to a role in its executive management a decade later. A managed merger with Granada TV prompted her to seek a career change and she joined the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) in 2002 as the Senior Policy Manager for the expected Freedom of Information Act. Dawn spent the next fifteen years as a senior manager in the ICO. For the first 8 years she was responsible for key policies in FOIA, developing the ICO model publication schemes and ensuring her team developed a suite of guidance which would assist organisations across the public sector to understand and meet their obligations. She was also responsible for the ICO’s liaison with key stakeholders in the UK, Europe and worldwide. In 2008 she was asked to take up a role in Strategic Liaison for Data Protection with organisations across Health, Local Government and the Education sectors. In was in this role she became passionate about Health and Social Care and the importance of information sharing in improving patient experience and the effectiveness of the health and social care system. In Feb 2016 she joined NHS England as Head of the Data Sharing and Privacy Unit (DSPU) I addition to her responsibilities as Head of the DSPU remain but she is also Director of the IGA, Director of the data and IG workstream for EU exit and SRO for the National Opt- out programme. In all of her roles her aim is to support and assist the use of information by ensuring that public expectations are developed and met and that professionals understand how to use information in a sensible and secure manner. The simplification of process and the practical application of the law is her ultimate goal.