UHNM launches new Call for Concern Service

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) has launched a new Call for Concern service, giving patients and their significant others access to support from specialist nurses when they are concerned about their own or their loved one’s condition is getting worse. 

Call for Concern is a patient safety service, launched to support Martha’s Rule, after Martha Mills, who died at a London hospital in 2021 after developing sepsis. Martha’s family’s concerns about her deteriorating condition were not responded to and a coroner ruled that Martha would probably have survived had she been moved to intensive care earlier. 

In response to this and other cases related to the management of deterioration, NHS England committed to implement Martha’s Rule to ensure the vitally important concerns of the patient and those who know the patient best are listened to and acted upon.

Royal Stoke University Hospital is part of a pilot to introduce the service where all adult inpatients have access to a review from the critical care outreach team – a team of nurses specialising in the care of very unwell patients and patients recovering from critical illness.

Ann-Marie Morris, UHNM Deputy Chief Medical Officer, said: “We are aware that patients, their relatives, or carers are often the best people to identify the early signs of someone getting more unwell. This service aims to ensure that if there are ongoing concerns a patient is getting worse after having spoken to the ward nurse or doctor, they are able to get support as quickly as possible from a specialist team. This system empowers them to escalate these concerns, allowing the outreach team to work alongside ward teams to provide the best possible care.”

She added: “We encourage all our patients to discuss concerns with their ward nursing and medical teams, and we recognise the importance of listening to our patients. This service is an additional safety net which offers a dedicated number for families to speak directly with the team should they notice any changes in the patient’s condition they are concerned about.”

By implementing a Call for Concern service patients, relatives, carers, and staff will have 24/7 access to a dedicated team with specialised training in treating and recognising deteriorating patients.

Over the next 12 months, the service will be expanded to cover paediatric, maternity, Emergency Department and out-patient services.