Doctors tore down posters offering Martha’s Rule-style rights, teenager’s mother claims

Merope Mills’s daughter Martha died from Sepsis in 2021 after staff at King’s College Hospital failed to admit her to critical care

Doctors tore down posters offering patients a secondary care review if they were worried about their condition in hospital, the mother of a teenager who died of sepsis claimed.

Merope Mills, who has campaigned for a similar policy called “Martha’s Rule” named after her 13-year-old daughter, claimed a small minority of “bad actors” in hospitals risked slowing down the initiative.

It comes as NHS England announced 100 hospitals with critical care units will be invited to sign up for the policy, which will be rolled out from April this year.

Martha died from sepsis in 2021 after staff at King’s College Hospital failed to move her to intensive care despite her family warning them her condition had deteriorated.

“When something similar to Martha’s Rule was introduced to Royal Berkshire Hospital, doctors actually pulled down the posters advertising the service to patients because they hated the idea of giving patients this kind of power,” Mrs Mills told the Today Programme.

Merope Mills said doctors tore down posters offering patients a secondary care review if they were worried about their condition (Dave Benett/Getty Images for Wom)

“A small minority of bad actors whose arrogance, complacency or pride stops them listening and doing the right thing and that is what we are trying to challenge with Martha’s Rule. There are pockets of damaging cultures in hospitals around the country. Sometimes it is not a whole hospital, sometimes it is just a ward in a hospital, sometimes it is just a particular individual on a ward in a hospital.”

A Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson told The Independent: “Call 4 Concern was launched in 2009 as the first ever critical care hotline service in the NHS.

“As a pioneering initiative, Call 4 Concern took a period of time to be adopted by different departments but is now used across the entire Trust.

“We are proud the service has been welcomed by our staff and patients, and has since been adopted by other trusts in the country.

“Call 4 Concern is backed up by our values which have grown and evolved to reflect our trust’s positive culture. As part of our aim to be a learning organisation, we foster a culture where our staff feel comfortable speaking up and are willing to share learnings and best practice to provide outstanding patient care.”

Martha died from sepsis in 2021 after staff at King’s College Hospital failed to move her to intensive care despite her family warning them her condition had deteriorated (PA Media)

Under the new rules, hospitals would allow patients to access so-called critical care outreach teams around the clock to review patients if they get worse while in hospital.

These teams, which currently exist in some NHS trusts, would be made up of senior nurses, therapists and doctors.

Participating hospitals will be expected to also record daily information on a patient’s health after speaking directly with their patients and families.

There are currently 137 hospitals with critical care beds, with the remaining hospitals due to adopt the scheme next year.

Martha was being looked after at King’s after suffering a pancreatic injury following a fall from her bike while on a family holiday in Wales.

Royal Berkshire Hospital has yet to respond to the allegation (NHS)

An inquest heard there were several opportunities to refer Martha to intensive care but this did not happen. The trust, which is a specialist national referral centre for children with pancreatic problems, has since apologised for mistakes in Martha’s care.

At one point, Martha began to bleed heavily through a tube inserted into her upper arm and through a drainage tube.

She also developed a rash and her mother voiced concerns to staff that Martha would go into septic shock over a bank holiday weekend.

One of the trust’s own intensive care doctors told the inquest into Martha’s death he would “100 per cent” have admitted her if he had seen her.