Please note that Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley is supporting NHS trusts to implement Martha’s Rule. We cannot take direct referrals.
The Patient Safety Collaborative team (PSC) within Health Innovation Oxford and Thames Valley are supporting the national pilot of Martha’s Rule in mental health settings. Nine NHS Trusts across England are working on adapting and piloting Martha’s Rule in mental health settings as part of an initial learning year. This work forms part of phase 2 of the national Martha’s Rule programme, following on from phase 1 which started in 2024, in 143 acute NHS hospitals.
Martha Mills died in 2021 after developing sepsis in hospital, where she had been admitted with a pancreatic injury after falling off her bike. Martha’s family’s concerns about her deteriorating condition were not responded to, and in 2023 a coroner ruled that Martha, aged 13, would probably have survived had she been moved to intensive care earlier.
In response to this, Martha’s Rule is being implemented across the NHS in England. It is a patient safety initiative designed to give patients and their families a way to seek an urgent review, if they are concerned about a patient’s deteriorating condition. It ensures that patient and family concerns are listened to and acted upon when a patient’s condition worsens.
There are three components of Martha’s Rule:
- Patients will be asked, at least daily, about how they are feeling, and if they are getting better or worse, and this information will be acted on in a structured way.
- All staff will be able, at any time, to ask for a review from a different team if they are concerned that a patient is deteriorating, and they are not being responded to.
- This escalation route will also always be available to patients themselves, their families and carers and advertised across the hospital.
For more information on PSC support for Martha’s Rule, please contact patientsafety@healthinnovationoxford.org