NHS England have announced that the first phase of the introduction of Martha’s Rule will be implemented in the NHS from April 2024. Once fully implemented, patients, families, carers and staff will have round-the-clock access to a rapid review from a separate care team if they are worried about a person’s condition.
The implementation of Martha’s Rule in the NHS will take a phased approach, beginning with at least 100 adult and paediatric acute provider sites who already offer a 24/7 critical care outreach capability. They will soon ask for expressions of interest to be part of the first phase of the programme. There are currently no discussions relating to rolling this out in N.Ireland.
This first phase will take place during 2024/25 and will focus on supporting participating provider sites to devise and agree a standardised approach to all three elements of Martha’s Rule, ahead of scale up to the remaining sites in England in the following years.
Criteria for participation will be set out in an expression of interest document and will include the requirement that the provider sites taking part in the first phase have an existing 24/7 critical care outreach infrastructure. The document will also outline the support offer from NHS England; this will include additional funding for project resources, and access to specialist implementation support and expertise from the Health Innovation Network’s Patient Safety Collaboratives.
Martha’s Rule will build on the lessons, learning and evaluation of NHS England’s Worry and Concern Improvement Collaborative which involves seven regional pilots and began in 2023. They have been testing and implementing methods for patients, families and carers to escalate their concerns about deterioration and to input their views about their illness into the health record. The final learning session of the national improvement collaborative to share successes and achievements is scheduled for April 25th.
Find out more on our Martha’s Rule webpage.
