HSIB legacy

We started our work in 2017 as the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB), whilst waiting for legislation to establish us as a fully independent non-departmental public body.

During this time HSIB was funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and hosted by the Trust Development Authority, then NHS Improvement and finally NHS England (due to mergers).

After the Health and Care Act 2022 was passed, between April 2022 and October 2023 HSIB went through a period of transformation to become the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB).

The main differences between HSIB and HSSIB are that:

• HSSIB has enhanced powers that require people and organisations to cooperate with our patient safety investigations.
• HSSIB can protect the information provided during investigations from disclosure. This means that for other bodies to access it, they need to seek permission from the High Court.
• HSSIB has a board of executive and non-executive directors. They are accountable for governance and the assurance of operations and performance.

HSIB investigation programmes

HSIB carried out independent safety investigations into NHS-funded care across England through two programmes: national investigations and maternity investigations.

Maternity investigations

The HSIB maternity investigations programme is now hosted by the Care Quality Commission and is known as the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations (MNSI) programme. This is because the Health and Care Act 2022 does not make provision for maternity investigations under HSSIB.

Find out more about the legacy HSIB maternity investigations programme on the MNSI website.

National investigations

HSSIB carries out an expanded programme of patient safety investigations. All investigations and reports published by HSIB are available on the patient safety investigations page.

HSIB archive

Reports

National investigation reports and national learning reports published by HSIB are available on the patient safety investigations page.

Blogs and events

Selected HSIB blogs and events are available in the news, events and blog section.

Annual reviews

HSIB annual review:

• HSIB Annual Review 2022/23 (accessible PDF)
• HSIB Annual Review 2021/22 (PDF)
• HSIB Annual Review 2020/21 (PDF)
• HSIB Annual Review 2019/20 (PDF)
• HSIB Annual Review 2018/19 (PDF)
• HSIB Annual Review 2017/18 (PDF)

HSIB maternity programme year in review:

• HSIB maternity programme year in review 2022/23 (accessible PDF)
• HSIB maternity programme year in review 2021/22 (PDF)
• HSIB maternity programme year in review 2020/21 (PDF)