As a parent, you know when something isn’t right with your child
AS HEALTH Secretary, it is my ambition and my responsibility to ensure that the NHS is one of the safest healthcare systems in the world.
To do that, we need to focus on making our NHS faster, simpler and fairer. We cannot be blind to its failings. We must learn from its mistakes and work hard to fix them.
That is why I am announcing the rollout of Martha’s Rule to 100 sites between now and March 2025. It will entitle patients in hospitals to a right to a rapid review of their case.
This will mean that if you are in hospital and worried about your own condition or that of a loved one, you have the right to call for a rapid review by someone outside the immediate care team, giving vital reassurance that the best care possible is being given.
I know that clinicians act with the best interests of their patients at heart but Martha’s Rule will ensure that where patients, families or carers are trying to draw attention to a deteriorating situation, they can ensure their concerns are escalated.
I am sure that clinical staff will embrace Martha’s Rule; this change will provide a boost to patient safety in England, ensuring that patients’ concerns are listened to and acted upon appropriately.
Martha Mills’ story provides the clearest lesson in why this new measure is needed.
Martha was just 13 when she was treated in hospital after falling off her bike – something that could happen to anyone. Martha contracted sepsis when in hospital and died after the signs were not picked up quickly enough, despite Martha’s mother Merope raising the alarm.
I have read Merope’s heart-wrenching account of the poor care Martha received – how she was ignored and how the many opportunities to save Martha’s life were missed.
Merope and Paul have had to face the unimaginable. I cannot begin to comprehend what they have had to go through and their strength, in campaigning to ensure others do not have to suffer as they have, is inspiring.
No parent should have to go through what they have been through. As a mother or father, you know when something is not right with your child. Martha’s Rule recognises that instinct and allows anyone concerned to act.
I want to see Martha’s Rule provide patients with peace of mind. This sits alongside other work the Government has been pursuing to improve patient safety.
In 2019, we commissioned the first ever NHS patient safety strategy and we established the Healthcare Services Safety Investigation Body last October to help make sure lessons are learned when mistakes happen to better prevent those mistakes happening in future. We know there is more to do.
Martha’s death was tragic and it was preventable. The change we have announced is a step towards making sure no family has to endure the heart-rending loss of a loved one for want of a second opinion.
‘Their strength, in campaigning to ensure others do not have to suffer as they have, is inspiring’