Thirteen West Midlands hospitals announce roll out of 'Martha's Rule'

Thirteen hospitals across the West Midlands are to roll out 'Martha's Rule' in the next step of a major patient safety initiative.

The NHS has today announced the 143 hospital sites that will test and roll out Martha’s Rule in its first year.

The purpose of Martha’s Rule is to provide a consistent and understandable way for patients and families to seek an urgent review if their or their loved one’s condition deteriorates and they are concerned this is not being responded to.

The scheme is named after thirteen-year-old Martha Mills, who died from sepsis having been treated at King’s College Hospital, London, in 2021, due to a failure to escalate her to intensive care, and after her family’s concerns about her deteriorating condition were not responded to.

NHS England is working with Martha’s parents to develop materials to advertise and explain the initiative in hospitals across the country, to ensure it is something that all patients, staff, and their families can recognise.

Martha’s Rule is to be made up of three components to ensure concerns about deterioration can be swiftly responded to.

Support includes an escalation process which will be available 24/7, advertised throughout the hospitals on posters and leaflets, enabling patients and families to contact a critical care outreach team that can swiftly assess a case and escalate care if necessary.

NHS staff will also have access to this same process if they have concerns about a patient’s condition.

The hospitals in the West Midlands implementing the rule are:

• Royal Stoke Hospital (University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust)

• New Cross Hospital (The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust)

• Manor Hospital (Walsall Healthcare Hospital NHS Trust)

• Birmingham Heartlands Hospital (University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust)

• Good Hope Hospital (University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust)

• Queen Elizabeth Hospital (University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust)

• Solihull Hospital (University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust)

• Birmingham Children’s Hospital (Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust)

• Russell’s Hall Hospital (The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust)

• Birmingham City Hospital (Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust)

• Sandwell General Hospital (Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust)

• University Hospital Coventry (University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust)

• Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen, Shropshire (Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust)

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