Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust among first in the country to launch Martha’s Rule at King’s Mill Hospital

A Nottinghamshire hospital is among the first in the UK to introduce Martha’s Rule, which provides patients and their families with easy access to a second opinion if their condition worsens.

Thirteen-year-old Martha Mills died in 2021 after developing sepsis in hospital, following a pancreatic injury after falling off her bike.

Martha’s family’s concerns about her deteriorating condition were not responded to promptly, and in 2023, the coroner ruled that Martha would probably have survived had she been moved to intensive care earlier.

Since then, her parents Merope and Paul Mills have campaigned for a system to allow patients and their families to activate an urgent clinical review from a different team in the hospital if they felt the patient’s condition was worsening.

The then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and NHS England committed to implement ‘Martha’s Rule’, and King’s Mill Hospital in Sutton-in-Ashfield is one of 143 hospital sites chosen to pilot the first phase of the major patient safety initiative.

Martha’s Rule will apply to all in-patients, across all areas of the hospital including Maternity, Paediatrics and the Emergency Department, and provides a clear and consistent way for patients, their families and carers to seek an urgent review if they feel a patient’s condition is deteriorating and not being responded to quickly enough.

They should first raise their concerns with the teams who are caring for the patient, but if they remain concerned they are now able to call a dedicated phone number — 07385 115 574 — to activate Martha’s Rule and speak to the Critical Care Outreach Team who will listen to their concerns and act immediately to review the patient.

The acute hospital already has an established 24/7 Critical Care Outreach Team, which enables staff to escalate concerns about a patient’s condition and, for the first time, these specialist teams will be directly available to patients and their families so they too can escalate care concerns if they feel there has been a noticeable change or deterioration in the patient’s condition.

Clinicians will also record daily information about a patient’s health directly from them, or their families to ensure that the concerns of those who know the patient best are listened to and acted upon.

Phil Bolton, Chief Nurse of Sherwood Forest Hospitals, said: “We are delighted to be supporting this vitally important national initiative working together with our patients for better communication and to ensure that the concerns of our patients and their families are really listened to.

“We want to be known as an outstanding local hospital that delivers quality services for our patients, delivering consistently outstanding care by compassionate people.

“This is an important step forward for patient care and safety which will always be our priority.”