The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) and safety management systems: An integrated approach to managing safety in healthcare

Abstract

The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) was established by the Health and Care Act 2022 as a new non-departmental arm's length body, replacing the former Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch. HSSIB exists to help reduce patient harm by understanding the complex interactions that exist within healthcare that may lead to patient safety events occurring. In other safety critical industries, a safety management system (SMS) approach is used to help enable proactive assessments of risks, specification of how risks should be managed, and set clear lines of accountability and responsibility in addressing risks. HSSIB has begun to explore how an SMS may operate in healthcare to help better equip the system to identify, respond, and proactively identify emerging and recurring concerns that may impact on the safety of patients.