Concerned your or a loved one’s health is getting worse?
There is support available to you.
Call for Concern, also known as Martha's Rule, is a patient safety service for adult inpatients, children and young people, families and friends to call for help and advice if they or their family are concerned that there is a noticeable change or deterioration in their condition, and they are concerned this is not being responded to.
Barts Health is part of the 143 hospitals to pilot the implementation of Martha’s Rule. Please beware that not all wards are able to offer Call for Concern currently.
When should you use Call for Concern?
When should I use Call for Concern?
Use Call for Concern:
- If the patient’s condition changes significantly and your concerns aren’t addressed after speaking with the healthcare team.
- If the care plan for the patient is unclear after discussion with the team.
The team may give advice over the phone or visit the ward to discuss further. You may need to provide:
- Patient’s name and ward
- Brief description of the concern and what has already been done
- Your contact details and relationship to the patient
This service should not be used to report general problems regarding a patient’s care, for example, issues with the hospital bed, room, food, parking etc. Please read the different ways you can share feedback or raise more general issues.
Additional information
Further information
The 3 core components
The components that will ensure that concerns of deterioration are swiftly addressed:
- An escalation process will be available 24/7 within participating wards, so a patient can be quickly assessed.
- Staff will have access to this same process if they have concerns.
- Clinicians in participating wards will formally record daily insights about a patient's health provided by their families, ensuring that any concerning changes in behaviour or condition are considered by staff.
Some changes that you may notice before anyone else:
- The patient seems different to usual (not themselves)
- Breathing differently
- Sweating or unusual skin colour
- Reduced urine output or not passing urine
- More sleepy than usual or confused
- Hands feel cold or very hot
- In pain and looks uncomfortable
- You are worried about their condition.
Contact us
If you are worried
- St Bartholomew's Hospital: 07743930950
- Whipps Cross Hospital: 07546655786
- Newham Hospital: 07821666852