Hundreds of lives have been saved after the roll-out of Martha’s Rule in every acute hospital in England, new figures reveal.

The new system, which is named after a little girl who died of sepsis, gives patients the right to request a second medical opinion.

It was named after 13-year-old Martha Mills, who died from sepsis a month after she fell from her bike while on a family holiday in Wales in 2021.

Martha would likely have survived if she had been ‘referred promptly’ to the intensive care unit at King’s College hospital, London, when her health rapidly declined, a coroner report found.

The new guidance was launched through an initial roll-out in April 2024, but expanded in September 2024 to the 210 intensive care facilities, including the 143 acute hospitals, across England. 

During the first 16 months of its expansion, 10,119 calls were made to the Martha’s rule helplines by patients, relatives and staff who were worried about their loved ones medical treatment.

This prompted thousands of patients to either be moved into intensive care, receive crucial drugs or have a change in their care - which led to 446 people's lives being saved.

Some 7,286 calls, or 72 per cent, came from concerned family or carers.

Meanwhile more than one third of calls, or 3,457, related to a rapid worsening of health, which is dubbed ‘acute deterioration’.

The treatment of nearly half of these patients (1,885) had to be changed as a result of the call, while more than 6,000 calls addressed clinical, communication or coordination concerns.

In the wake of Martha’s death, her parents Merope Mills and Paul Laity campaigned for the initiative.

Her death came despite her parents expressing concern about her deteriorating condition to her medical team on multiple occasions, who said they were 'not given the full picture' of their daughter's deteriorating condition.

Martha died of sepsis, a dangerous overreaction by the body’s immune system to an infection which causes it to attack healthy tissue, after a pancreatic injury following a fall from her bike.

The coroner ruled she would most likely have survived if doctors had picked up on warning signs that signalled her rapidly declining health - and then subsequently quickly transferred her to intensive care.

In the coroner’s report of Martha’s death published in 2022, Coroner Mary Hassel said: ‘Whilst at King’s Martha was not referred to the paediatric intensivists promptly.

‘If she had been referred promptly and had been appropriately treated, the likelihood is that she would have survived from her injuries.’

Martha’s mother Ms Mills said the success of the initiative is evident through the data.

She said: ‘The more data that is gathered, the clearer it becomes that Martha’s rule is having a hugely positive effect.

‘Apart from the lives saved, over a third of the calls have led to a marked improvement in care.

‘The process is not being overused and has obviously met a need, giving patients and families feel agency.

‘We look forward to its thorough implementation in maternity departments and call for its rapid introduction in Wales and Scotland.’

Patients at the hospitals which have implemented the initiative have 24/7 access to a team of critical care doctors and nurses, who would quickly come and assess the care of a patient whose health is deteriorating.

Calls through the Martha's Rule helplines have more than doubled since June last year (4,911) as a result of the ramped up rollout.  

Dr Aidan Fowler, National Director of Patient Safety at NHS England, said: 'Martha's Rule is already helping to save lives and transform the culture of the NHS - with 10,000 calls made to the helplines in just over a year and over four hundred potentially life-saving interventions triggered. 

'These figures show that Merope and Paul's tireless campaigning and the hard work of staff are helping the NHS listen to families more effectively and shows that when concerns are raised, hospital teams are ready to respond.'