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.
Staff can themselves ask for a review from a different team if they are concerned the appropriate action is not being taken.
During the eight-month pilot at the seven trusts, 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 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.”
Health minister Baroness Merron said the initiative was part of “wider efforts to put patient safety at the heart of the NHS.”
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?'”.
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.
Scotland is beginning to use Martha’s Rule and Northern Ireland is considering using it, while Wales has a similar scheme called Call4Concern.
