THE NHS has announced that 143 hospital sites around the UK are set to roll out a new patient safety initiative, including 20 sites in the south east.
The implementation of Martha’s Rule, which will make it easier for patients and their loved ones to assess the care they’re receiving, is set to be trialled this year.
It will see a three-step initiative rolled out in participating hospitals, beginning with a new escalation process which will enable patients and families to contact a critical care outreach team if they feel they are not getting the requisite care..
The teams will be able to examine a care case and move the patient to more urgent care when necessary.
NHS staff will also be able to make this referral if they have concerns about their patient’s condition.
Lastly clinicians at participating hospitals will formally record information from the patients’ family, helping to monitor changes in behaviour or condition by those who know the patient best and formalising contextual information which could inform better treatment.
Initial plans for the scheme were to see it rolled out in around 100 sites, but significant interest from frontline clinical staff meant that the launch was expanded to include implementation at more than 140 sites by March next year.
The scheme is named after thirteen-year-old Martha Mills, who died from sepsis having been treated at King’s College Hospital, London, in 2021.
Her family’s concerns about her deteriorating condition were not responded to, leading to a failure to escalate her to intensive care.
The scheme is the result of NHS England working with Martha’s parents to develop materials to advertise and explain the initiative in hospitals across the country.
Merope Mills and Paul Laity campaigned extensively, supported by the cross-party think tank Demos, and garnered widespread support for a unified care escalation system.
South East Regional Medical Director Vaughan Lewis said: “Rolling out Martha’s Rule to twenty hospital sites across the South East represents one of the most important changes to patient care in recent years.”
“This is key milestone and will see this major patient safety initiative being rolled out across the whole of the South East region later this year, enabling staff, patients and families to raise their concerns in order to ensure patient deterioration is managed promptly.
“While the need for escalation of care will hopefully only be needed in a limited number of cases, this three-step safety net has the opportunity to transform patient care and safety and provide prompt intervention in the event of patient deterioration.”
Merope Mills and Paul Laity, Martha’s parents, said: “We are pleased that the roll-out of Martha’s Rule is off to a flying start and that the need for it has been so widely recognised.
“It will save lives and encourage better, more open, communication on hospital wards, so that patients feel they are listened to, and partners in their healthcare.”
