Martha’s rule, the patient safety initiative that helps people whose health fails to get an urgent second opinion about their care, will be rolled out across 143 hospitals in England, the NHS said.
The move, described by NHS officials as one of the most significant changes to patient care in years, will allow patients, relatives and staff to get an assessment of their condition and treatment directly from doctors and nurses not involved in the medical profession. team that treats them.
Patients in the hospitals involved in the program will have 24/7 access to an intensive care team from elsewhere in the building who specialize in the care of patients who are deteriorating and will assess the situation. An internal telephone number will be advertised on posters and leaflets in the hospitals.
The original goal was to register 100 locations. However, NHS England said this target had been exceeded due to “significant interest” from frontline clinicians. The first phase of the plan will start in the autumn and will be in force at all 143 locations by March 2025.
The initiative is the direct result of pressure put on politicians, NHS bosses and doctors after Merope Mills, a senior editor at the Guardian, and her husband, Paul Laity, told the story of what happened to their daughter, 13- birthday Martha, had happened. , who died of sepsis at King’s College hospital in London in 2021.
“We are pleased that the rollout of Martha’s rule has taken off and that its need is so widely recognized,” Martha’s parents said in a statement Monday. “It will save lives and promote better, more open communication in hospital wards so patients feel listened to and partners in their healthcare.”
Martha had injured her pancreas when she fell off her bicycle during a summer vacation. However, doctors at King’s College did not listen to her parents’ concerns, including the possibility that Martha could have had sepsis, a leading cause of preventable death that kills an estimated 40,000 people a year in Britain.
Some doctors knew Martha had sepsis days before she died, but did not tell her parents or send Martha to intensive care. An inquest found that she would probably have survived if she had been moved to intensive care earlier, as her parents had asked doctors.
Professor Stephen Powis, the medical director of NHS England, said: “The rollout of Martha’s Rule to more than 143 NHS sites in this first phase will represent one of the most significant changes in patient care in recent years, and we are pleased that we have seen such changes. interest from hospitals across the country, all thanks to the moving and dedicated campaign of Martha’s parents, Merope and Paul.”