'Lives can be saved if doctors listen to patients and their loved ones': As an NHS trial of Martha's Rule is hailed as 'one of the most important changes to patient care in recent years', MEROPE MILLS reflects on its success...
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I was enraged and inconsolable after my 13-year-old daughter Martha's death; I simply did not know how to live. But then I resolved that I must try to do everything I could to prevent other families from facing similar devastation. It was clear to me that the hospital doctors had made serious errors in her care.
![[Named after Merope's daughter Martha (pictured), 'Martha's Rule' gives patients, families and nurses on wards a number to call if they are worried a deterioration in a loved one isn't being responded to correctly]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/19/14/93316589-14210305-image-a-11_1734619386303.jpg)
It was clear, too, they had been fatally mistaken in not listening to me when I alerted them to clear signs of her deterioration. So I decided to write about what happened at King's College Hospital, London, in those terrible days following Martha's cycling accident, and to campaign for 'Martha's Rule' – which would give patients, families and nurses on wards a number to call if they were worried a deterioration in a loved one wasn't being responded to correctly or quickly enough.
Someone from a critical care team could then visit and decide if a change of treatment was needed. After a hard-fought campaign, Martha's Rule was recently introduced in more than 140 hospitals across England. Many healthcare professionals supported it from the start. Others were sceptical. They said Martha's Rule would be abused and overused – that families would call the number to get granny a cup of tea; or patients would pick up their phone to complain about hospital food.
Merope Mills pictured with her daughter Martha, who died at the age of 13 after doctors made serious errors in her care. It turns out that patients can be trusted. The first Martha's Rule data has just come in from NHS England and the results are striking - and encouraging.
