HSIB blog: Reviewing our new powers and how they will impact you (11 October 2022)

Summary

The Health and Care Act 2022 will establish the Healthcare Safety Investigations Branch (HSIB) as the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) in April 2023, a fully independent arm’s-length body. This blog by Dr Sean Weaver, Deputy Medical Director at HSIB, outlines what HSSIB's new powers will be.

Content

Key points

• HSSIB’s safety investigations will have legal privilege, also often referred to as ‘safe space’. This means that its investigation evidence and findings are subject to special protections. They cannot be disclosed without the HSSIB chief investigator’s consent, or without a High Court order that has assessed the public benefit of that disclosure.
• HSSIB will not need to obtain prior patient or family consent to speak to staff and capture the details of what happened during an incident.
• HSSIB will have the power to require staff to speak to its investigators.
• HSSIB investigators will have the authority to enter healthcare premises, inspect any equipment or documents and take copies or remove any item as long as doing so does not pose a risk to the safety of any patient.
• HSSIB’s powers will extend to investigations for care received in private and independent healthcare providers.
• After April 2023, maternity investigations will continue with a new body—the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations special health authority (MNSI), which will have a separate remit and powers to HSSIB.