Risk of surgical swabs being left inside patients
We've investigated the risk of unintentional ‘retained’ swabs after invasive procedures. The i…
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You can tell us your concerns about a healthcare experience in the following ways:
- Complete our online form.
- Email us at insights@hssib.org.uk.
If you would like to tell us about a concern using a different language or format, you can email us at insights@hssib.org.uk.
Who can contact us
We would like to hear from everyone who interacts with healthcare, including patients, families and NHS and healthcare staff, so that we can understand how issues affect different groups.
Every contact we receive is valuable to us. Each one is logged on our database and helps us to build a picture of patient safety issues over time and identify patterns. Then we can investigate the patient safety risks where the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) can provide the most learning.
Many people contact us because they want an investigation into their concerns. Our investigations cannot investigate individual incidents, resolve complaints, or act on behalf of patients or families. This may seem confusing, but it’s because we do not have the powers to resolve or investigate concerns in this way. Find out more about what we investigate.
We also hear from people who need advice on where to get support after an incident or concerning experience in healthcare. There are lists of other organisations who may be able to help you on the support for patients and families and support for NHS and healthcare staff pages.
HSSIB cannot provide support in an emergency or get involved in ongoing care. If you believe there is an immediate risk to life, or your concerns require urgent support, please contact 999, NHS 111, or your local healthcare provider or GP.
What happens when you contact us
If you complete our online form or email us, you’ll receive an email confirming we have received your information. If we require any further information relating to your concerns, we’ll contact you within 10 working days to request this.
If you leave a message on our answerphone service, we can email you to confirm we have received your information if you include an email address in your message. We’ll only contact you if we need any extra information relating to your concerns. We’ll do this within 10 working days using the telephone number or email address you provide.
Everything you share with us is in the strictest confidence and in line with our privacy notice. We’ll only share information if we believe there’s an urgent risk to individuals and will always try to contact you to discuss this.