A hospital that serves South Holland is one of eight in the East Midlands to test the new Martha’s Rule.
Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital is one of 143 chosen nationally for the test.
The purpose of Martha’s Rule is to provide a consistent and understandable way for patients and families to seek an urgent review if their or their loved one’s condition deteriorates and they are concerned this is not being responded to.
The scheme is named after 13-year-old Martha Mills, who died from sepsis having been treated at King’s College Hospital, London, in 2021, due to a failure to escalate her to intensive care, and after her family’s concerns about her deteriorating condition were not responded to.
Martha’s Rule is to be made up of three components to ensure concerns about deterioration can be swiftly responded to.
An escalation process will be available 24/7, advertised throughout the hospitals on posters and leaflets, enabling patients and families to contact a critical care outreach team that can swiftly assess a case and escalate care if necessary.
NHS staff will also have access to this same process if they have concerns about a patient’s condition.
Alongside this, clinicians at participating hospitals will also formally record daily insights and information about a patient’s health directly from their families to ensure any concerning changes in behaviour or condition noticed by the people who know the patient best are considered by staff.
An NHS spokesman said: “Evaluation of how the system works in these sites over the course of this year will inform proposals for Martha’s Rule to be expanded further across all acute hospitals, subject to future government funding.
“NHS England is working with Martha’s parents to develop materials to advertise and explain the initiative in hospitals across the country, to ensure it is something that all patients, staff, and their families can recognise.”
Jess Sokolov, NHS England’s medical director for the Midlands said: “Rolling out Martha’s Rule to eight sites in the East Midlands later this financial year will represent one of the most important changes to patient care in recent years.
“This first phase is an important milestone which will allow staff, patients and families in these areas to immediately raise concerns and bring about an escalation in care in an easily recognisable and fast way.
“While thankfully the need for escalation of care will hopefully only be needed in a limited number of cases, this three-step safety net has the opportunity to truly transform patient care and safety.”
