The Westminster Health Forum recently brought together stakeholders, clinical leaders and policymakers to discuss the implementation of Martha’s Rule, which aims to provide patients, families, carers and staff with 24/7 access to a rapid review, from a separate critical care team, when concerns arise about a patient’s deteriorating condition. Louise Frampton reports.
At the Westminster Health Forum's conference on patient safety, experts gathered to discuss the key priorities for the implementation of Martha's Rule — a national patient safety initiative named after Martha Mills, who died of sepsis, after her parents' concerns were ignored by medical staff. Dr. Ron Daniels, a Founder and Chief Executive of the UK Sepsis Trust and a Vice President of the Global Sepsis Alliance, highlighted the importance of changing the culture in healthcare, to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future.
"It's three years now since Martha Mills tragically died in 2021, at the age of just 13. The inquest following her death ruled that her death was almost certainly avoidable. Following that episode, her parents — Merope and Paul — started on a crusade, which has resulted in a ministerial mandate to implement Martha's Rule," he explained.
"We see 150 avoidable deaths per week across the NHS. However, as we've emerged from the COVID pandemic, it's very likely that horrific number of 150 avoidable deaths per week, might have increased quite significantly," he commented.
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