Prof Aidan Fowler, national director of patient safety at NHS England, said the expansion of Martha’s Rule would give families and NHS staff “a critical new lifeline” to help improve care and save more lives.
Prof Fowler told the BBC that a Martha’s Rule call would mean a patient receives an “appropriate response”, for example, a senior nurse or member of the critical care outreach team could conduct a review of the case.
Staff can themselves also ask for a review from a different team if they are concerned the appropriate action is not being taken.
During an eight-month pilot of the scheme at seven emergency departments, 69 calls were made to dedicated Martha’s Rule phone numbers, including some calls relating to acute deterioration following an urgent clinical review. In some cases, it led to a patient having immediate surgery or being transferred to intensive care.
Prof Fowler told the BBC’s Today programme that, while these numbers might seem relatively small, the decision to roll out Martha’s Rule further “is on a background of very, very extensive experience in other settings”.
This included in-patient wards, where Prof Fowler said his teams had received “nearly 20,000 calls”; three quarters of which came from families.
Prof Fowler said: “Early testing has shown that Martha’s Rule can work well in busy A&Es and builds on the evidence from our adult and children’s wards, where thousands of calls have been made by patients, families and staff to date, with many leading to changes in treatment and potentially life-saving interventions.”
Questioned whether busy A&E staff might struggle with a sudden influx of calls, Prof Fowler told the BBC this had not played out in the recent tests.
“There was a concern we would receive an overwhelming number of calls, and that would be a distraction and actually divert staff from the important work they’re doing,” he said.
“But that hasn’t been the case, actually people have used it very sensibly,” he added. “We’ve tested it through winter and across this busy summer and therefore I am not concerned that when we roll this out we are going to be overwhelmed with calls.”
Health minister Baroness Merron said the initiative was part of “wider efforts to put patient safety at the heart of the NHS.”
Scotland is beginning to use Martha’s Rule and Northern Ireland is considering using it, while Wales has a similar scheme called Call4Concern.
Actor Jason Watkins, whose two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Maude died from sepsis in 2011, praised the rollout, saying Martha’s rule “is making a difference on the wards”.
“It enables a parent to have a voice and if there is an issue, that is addressed,” he told BBC Breakfast, and urged parents: “if you’re at all worried when you go into A&E, ask for a second opinion.”
Watkins said the rollout of Martha’s law could benefit medical professionals too, explaining: “Those extremely dedicated medical practitioners, nurses, doctors and consultants, it gives them a pause and a thought ‘am I doing everything I can to assess this child accurately?'”.
The phased rollout in England will be completed by March 2028.
Patients and their families can check with their local hospital or NHS trust where Martha’s Rule is available by visiting the trust’s website or asking hospital staff.
