As data continues to show that the implementation of Martha’s Rule is supporting improvements in care and saving lives, the NHS has made the decision to increase the settings in which it can be used.
After successful testing, a roll-out is now planned to implement this patient review entitlement across all emergency departments and maternity settings in England.
This recently introduced strategy provides patients, family members and hospital staff with the opportunity and method to request a rapid review if they believe that a deterioration in a patient’s condition is not being responded to appropriately.
Early pilots in some NHS Trusts demonstrated that this opportunity would be seized when patients and their families were concerned and that it has succeeded in alerting medical staff to urgent issues, resulting in alterations to the patient’s care.
Appropriate treatment in response to a patient’s changing needs and signs of deterioration is absolutely fundamental to ensuring the patient achieves the best outcome.
On occasion, a failure to recognise or observe a deterioration or a failure to provide adequate or appropriate care can leave the patient suffering unnecessarily and may even lead to their death.
The broader implementation of Martha’s Rule should reduce the occasions on which this occurs, alerting medical professionals to worrying signs in the patient’s health and condition.
Where failures of care, monitoring and management continue to occur, it may be appropriate to make a claim for compensation to address the impact on the patient’s health and quality of life.
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