Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch
Our purpose is to improve patient safety through effective and independent investigations that don’t apportion blame or liability.
Tell us about a patient safety concern
Link to page with safety awareness formAbout us
We conduct independent investigations of patient safety concerns in NHS-funded care across England.
The safety recommendations we make aim to improve healthcare systems and processes in order to reduce risk and improve safety.
HSIB is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and hosted by NHS England and NHS Improvement. We hope that when parliamentary time allows, we will be established as an independent public body.
Final report: Suitability of equipment and technology used for continuous fetal heart rate monitoring
Our investigation looked into the suitability of equipment and technology used for continuous fetal heart rate monitoring during labour and birth.
Multiple methods and types of equipment are used to continuously monitor fetal wellbeing during labour and birth, which can cause complexity and safety issues.
Latest news / view all
New report highlights fetal heart rate monitoring equipment issues in maternity care across NHS
Our latest national report focuses on the equipment used in maternity units across England to carry out continuous fetal heart rate monitoring during labour and birth.The investigation that underpins the…
Investigations
We undertake patient safety investigations through two programmes - national investigations and maternity investigations. In our national programme we investigate up to 30 patient safety concerns each year in order to provide meaningful safety recommendations.
Our teams work closely with patients, families and healthcare staff affected by patient safety incidents and we never attribute blame or liability to individuals.
We welcome information about patient safety concerns from everyone, including patients and their families, the public, NHS staff and organisations.