Martha’s Rule is being expanded to emergency departments across England, giving patients, their families and carers a clearer route to raise concerns about a patient’s condition and request an urgent clinical review.
The initiative is named after 13-year-old Martha Mills, who died from sepsis at King’s College Hospital in 2021. Her family had raised concerns about her condition, but these were not acted upon. Her death subsequently led to calls for changes in how patients and families are listened to within the NHS.
Under the expanded approach, patients, relatives and staff in A&E will be able to use a dedicated phone number to request an urgent review where they are concerned that a patient’s condition is deteriorating and their concerns are not being addressed.
Martha’s Rule has already been introduced across inpatient wards, and the expansion into emergency departments follows a trial involving seven NHS trusts. The national rollout will begin this year and is expected to be completed by March 2028.
The move is intended to strengthen communication between patients, families and clinical teams, while providing an additional route for concerns to be escalated when a patient’s condition changes.
Find out more: Via BBC Health
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