Part 4: The Health Services Safety Investigations Body Investigations Section 110: Investigation of incidents with safety implications
This section gives the HSSIB the function of investigating "qualifying incidents". These are incidents that that occur in England during the provision of health care services and have, or may have, implications for the safety of patients. The purpose of the investigation is to identify the risks to the safety of patients and address those risks by facilitating the improvement of systems and practices in the provision of health care services in England (under section 110(2)).
	The HSSIB could investigate a qualifying incident that occurred during the provision of health care services in any setting in England, including in the NHS or in the independent sector. The purpose of its investigations are to identify risks to the safety of patients and to address them by facilitating improvements in the health care system.
	Where an investigation relates to an incident that did not occur during the provision of NHS services, the HSSIB must consider whether, in relation to any risks identified, the systems and practices in the provision of NHS services could be improved (under section 110(3). NHS services means health care services provided in England for the purposes of the health service continued under section 1(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006. The HSSIB will determine and publish the criteria it will use to determine which qualifying incident it will investigate (under section 111(1)).
	The aim is that the HSSIB will gather evidence which leads to systemic learning from investigating patient safety incidents and share these to prevent a recurrence of a similar incident elsewhere. The HSSIB will make recommendations in its reports and will require the relevant body to respond within a specified period, setting out the action they intend to take in response to that recommendation. Section 110(4) provides that the HSSIB’s investigations are not for the purposes of assessing or determining blame, civil or criminal liability, or action to be taken by a professional regulator in respect of an individual.