Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide:
A) The exact number of national safety investigations or thematic reviews initiated by HSSIB (or its predecessor HSIB) that explicitly identify surgical or clinical procedure cancellations as a core risk factor or primary focus.
B) Any internal briefing notes, risk evaluations, or systemic data summaries held by HSSIB that specifically address the safety impact or harm trajectories associated with cancelled operations in the NHS.
Decision
With regards to our predecessor organisation HSIB, we wish to clarify the following. HSSIB is only able to undertake FOI requests for information in relation to HSSIB which was established in October 2023. Details about the HSIB legacy can be found on our website. Any FOIs in relation to HSIB need to be redirected to the FOI team at NHS England (as HSIB was part of NHS England when it was in existence). Full details of their FOI process can be found on their website. For convenience though, their email address is: england.contactus@nhs.net.
HSSIB does not hold any information in relation to this request as HSSIB have not conducted any investigations which explicitly identify surgical or clinical procedure cancellations as a core risk factor or primary focus.
In addition, HSSIB does not hold any internal briefing notes, risk evaluations, or systemic data summaries that specifically address the safety impact or harm trajectories associated with cancelled operations in the NHS.
For your information, you may be interested in an investigation we have just launched, on 23 September 2026, with regards to surgical safety. Information about the investigation can be found here: Improving surgical safety through reporting, monitoring and learning.