Monday, 7th April, sees the launch of Martha’s Rule here at CHFT. The national patient safety initiative allows families, carers, patients or colleagues to raise urgent concerns if they feel a patient’s condition is worsening and that it hasn’t been recognised by the healthcare team.

The initiative is named after 13-year-old Martha Mills who died after developing sepsis in hospital in 2021 whilst on holiday in Wales. She had been admitted with a pancreatic injury after falling off her bike.

During her stay, Martha’s family’s concerns about her worsening condition were not responded to and in 2023 a coroner ruled Martha would probably have survived if she had been moved to intensive care earlier.

Martha's Rule Matron, Joanne Briggs, said: “We’re committed to hearing the voices of families, and Martha’s Rule will apply to both adults and children. We will have a dedicated telephone number for Martha’s Rule calls, which will filter through to our Acute Response Team. Initially there will be a 4-hour response time as we understand the number of calls the team receive, though that may change once we know the numbers and types of calls in the first few weeks.

“A huge thank you to our clinician colleagues who have supported us through the project. Their feedback on the pathway for escalation has been invaluable.”

If you have any questions about the launch of Martha’s Rule, please email ART@cht.nhs.uk

Our intranet page will be updated with more content this week. Our website page will be updated with information for the public too.