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Martha’s Rule: Detecting Deterioration

Martha’s Rule is a key patient safety initiative to ensure patients, families, carers and hospital staff’s concerns about a worsening health condition are listened to. This can help detect deterioration early, so action can be taken to prevent more serious health problems.

Campaign details

Topics: NHS

Campaign start date: 31 March 2025

Effective communication is crucial to the success of Martha’s Rule. These communications resources have been developed using independent audience research to identify the messaging and communications formats that resonate most with patients, their families and staff.

We have used these findings, along with the expertise of clinicians, Martha Mills’ family and feedback from NHS organisations, to create the content of this toolkit. We recommend that wherever possible trusts use these materials to help ensure effective and consistent messaging about the programme across the NHS.

Published: 3 April 2025