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.
Interim bulletin: Surgical care of NHS patients in independent hospitals
We release early findings from our investigation to support the delivery of safe care to NHS-funded patients undergoing surgery within independent (private) hospitals.
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed increased pressure on the NHS and as a result, more NHS patients have received care in independent hospitals.
Latest news / view all
HSIB highlights ‘time-critical’ delay to heart attack treatment
Our latest national report says that patients suffering from a heart attack face ambulance delays that could impact their ability to have life-saving treatment.The report focuses on a form of…
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.