Martha's Rule Pilot at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been chosen as one of the pilot sites for the rollout of Martha's Rule, an NHS England, nationwide initiative. We are proud to launch this service as part of our work to create a patient-centred safety culture that amplifies patients' voices.
As of Monday 30 September, our 24/7 patient care escalation phone line is be open to inpatients receiving care at both Chelsea and Westminster and West Middlesex University Hospitals, as well as their relatives and carers who may be concerned about their clinical condition.
Martha Mills died in 2021 after developing sepsis in a London 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 could have survived had she been moved to intensive care earlier.
The three components of Martha’s Rule are:
- All inpatients, their families, carers, and advocates must have access to the same 24/7 rapid review from the critical care outreach team.
- Staff will have 24/7 access to a rapid review from the critical care outreach team, who they can contact should they have concerns about a patient’s condition.
- The NHS must implement a structured approach to obtain information relating to a patient’s condition directly from patients and their families at least once a day.
The pilot service at the Trust will run for six month and will then become a fully embedded service under Martha’s Rule, with updated branding across our hospital sites and externally.
People can scan the attached QR code or click the link for further information - Concerned about a patient’s condition? — Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
