'Martha's rule' should be available 24/7, says patient commissioner

Patients and their relatives will be able to request a second opinion from senior medics around the clock when the "Martha's rule" system is implemented in hospitals in England.

- Denis Campbell, Caroline Davies

The government's patient safety commissioner, who was asked by the to advise on how to apply the change, has said that access to a medic's opinion must operate 24/7.

Dr Henrietta Hughes made clear to Steve Barclay in a letter that inpatients and families worried that their loved one's health is deteriorating should be able to seek a second opinion at any time of day or night.

In her letter, which she published on Wednesday, Hughes also made clear that the availability of that service must be widely advertised in hospitals, so patients know they can use it.

She told Barclay that all staff in acute and specialist medical NHS trusts in England "must have 24/7 access to a rapid review from a critical care outreach team who they can contact should they have concerns about a patient".

Critical care outreach teams are small groups of senior medics who are on call and whom staff can ask to quickly review the condition of a patient they fear is in dangerous decline.