If you are concerned about the condition of a patient after raising your concerns with nursing staff on the ward, you can contact our Acute Response Team on 0117 414 9999, or complete the form below.
Responding to you
All completed forms will be assessed and, where appropriate, a specialist nurse from the Acute Response Team will visit the patient on the ward to ensure they are receiving the suitable treatment and support.
The team will liaise with the patient and their loved ones, as well as the patient’s medical team and other healthcare professionals as needed, to discuss further treatment options.
This service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and applies to all adult inpatients at North Bristol NHS Trust.
Who are the Acute Response Team?
The Acute Response Team are a team of specialist nurses, specialising in the care of very unwell patients, and patients recovering from critical illness. The team are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
When to make a call if you are concerned
We encourage you to first speak with the ward nurse or doctor. Following this, should you have ongoing concerns, inpatients and their families and friends should contact the Acute Response Team by calling or completing the form below, if:
- a noticeable change in the patient occurs, and you feel that the health care team is not recognising your concern.
- you feel there is confusion over what needs to be done for the patient, and you need clear information about what is happening.
- you have ongoing concerns after you have spoken to the ward nurse or doctor.
Contacting the Acute Response Team will not negatively affect the patient’s care in any way. We recognise that sometimes the patient or a close loved one can see that something is wrong before the health care team does. No one knows your health care needs or those of your loved one, better than you and your family.
The Acute Response Team is a patient safety service. To report problems regarding your hospital bed, room, food, parking or any other general issues, please speak to your nurse, ward manager or Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).
Martha’s Rule
Martha’s Rule is a national patient safety initiative providing patients and families with a way to seek an urgent review if their or their loved one’s condition deteriorates, and they are concerned this is not being responded to.
The three components of Martha’s Rule are as follows:
- Patients will be asked, at least daily, about how they are feeling, and if they are getting better or worse, and this information will be acted on in a structured way.
- All staff will be able, at any time, to ask for a review from an Acute Response Team if they are concerned that a patient is deteriorating, and they are not being responded to.
- This escalation route will also always be available to patients themselves, their families and carers and advertised across the hospital.
What this means in practice?
A daily Patient Wellness Questionnaire will be used to record digitally how each patient is feeling each day, and how this compares to how they felt the previous day. The responses to the questionnaire, as well as regular observations and interactions with the health care team, will help to trigger an appropriate response to any early signs of deterioration.
Inpatients, their loved ones and/or members of staff can alsocaonct the Acute Response Team 24/7 for immediate help and advice if they are worried the inpatient’s condition is getting worse.
Martha Mills and Martha’s Rule
Martha Mills died in 2021 after developing sepsis whilst being treated at King’s College Hospital, where she had been admitted with a pancreatic injury after falling off her bike.
During her stay, Martha’s family’s concerns about her deteriorating condition were not responded to, and in 2023 a coroner ruled that Martha would probably have survived had she been moved to intensive care earlier.
In response to this, campaigning from Martha’s parents, and other cases related to the management of deterioration, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England agreed to implement ‘Martha’s Rule’, which is designed to ensure the vitally important concerns of patients, and those who know the patient best, are listened to and acted upon.