NHS figures show Martha’s Rule prompted hundreds of hospital patients to receive escalated treatment and specialist care.
More than 500 hospital patients in England were transferred for urgent or specialist treatment after concerns were raised through Martha’s Rule, according to NHS England figures.
The patient safety scheme, introduced in 2024, allows patients, relatives and NHS staff to request a rapid review if they are worried about a patient’s condition or treatment.
NHS England said 524 adults and children were moved to intensive care, high-dependency units, specialist wards or specialist hospitals between September 2024 and February 2026.
During the same period, hospitals recorded 12,301 calls to Martha’s Rule helplines. Of those, 4,047 identified patients whose condition was deteriorating.
Around three-quarters of the calls were made by patients or their relatives, while 1,080 were made by hospital staff.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said the figures show Martha’s Rule is ‘already having a life-saving impact’.
The initiative is named after Martha Mills, who tragically passed away at just 13-years-old after developing sepsis while being treated at King’s College Hospital in London.
An inquest into her death, which was conducted in 2022, found Martha would have survived if she had been transferred to intensive care earlier.
Merope Mills and Paul Laity, Martha’s parents, have long campaigned for patients and families to have the right to seek a a second opinion if they or their loved ones fall unwell.
Streeting said: ‘Martha’s parents have fought tirelessly to turn the most unimaginable grief into something that is genuinely changing how our NHS works. Merope and Paul pushed for practical change that puts patients and families at the heart of care – and it’s one that is already having a life-saving impact.’
An interim view published on Friday found 32% of the public were aware of Martha’s Rule, which hospitals and GPs promote through posters. It also revealed people who had attended higher education were four times more likely to have heard of the scheme.
Paul Whiteing, chief executive of the patient safety charity, Action against Medical Accidents, said: ‘Too often the people we support still tell us about the culture of defend and deny that they face when they ask questions or raise concerns about their treatment. If this rule is challenging that culture, then its use must be expanded as soon as is possible.’
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