Second opinion powers coming to county's hospitals

Patients being treated at hospitals in Worcestershire are being given - along with their families - more powers to request a second opinion.

A national initiative called Martha's Rule is being brought in after teenager Martha Mills died from sepsis in a London hospital.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said its scheme Call For Concern, the first stage of implementing Martha's Rule, would make it easier and simpler for anyone worried about a patient to get a rapid review.

The scheme - which involves a special phone line - is set to launch at Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester in the next few weeks.

Martha Mills, 13, died in 2021.

She had originally been admitted to hospital for a pancreatic injury after falling off her bike.

Her family raised concerns that her condition was deteriorating which were ignored and a coroner ruled Martha would have probably survived if she had been moved to intensive care earlier.

In Worcestershire, Call For Concern is set up for anyone who thinks that their worries - over a worsening condition - have not been addressed by ward staff. The project allows them to phone a special number and report the matter.

The trust's deputy chief medical officer Dr Ed Mitchell said: "The aim of Martha's Rule is to make it easier and simpler for anyone who has a concern about a patient in our care to get a rapid review if they are worried that the patient is deteriorating and not enough is being done."

Chief nursing officer Hayley Flavell stated the launch of the programme was "really positive".

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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