Martha's rule now in use at every English acute hospital

Martha's rule, which lets NHS patients request a review of their care, is now in operation in every acute hospital in England, health service bosses disclosed yesterday.

- Denis Campbell

The system has helped hundreds of people receive potentially lifesaving improvements to their treatment since its introduction began last year. It has led directly to patients being moved to intensive care or receiving drugs they needed, such as antibiotics, or benefiting from other vital interventions.

It is named after Martha Mills, who died in 2021 at the age of 13 from sepsis after a bicycle accident. A coroner found she would probably have survived if she had been moved to the intensive care unit at King's College hospital in London when she began deteriorating.

Martha would have been 18 yesterday if she had lived.

Martha's rule became available in 143 acute hospitals in England last year. It has now also been implemented in the other 67 such sites, which means all 210 acute facilities are covered.

It gives patients, their loved ones and NHS staff the right to ask for a different medical team to examine the care being provided and to recommend changes.

NHS England's national medical director, Prof Meghana Pandit, said it was having "a transformative impact" on how hospitals worked with patients and their families when a patient's condition was worsening.