Monday to Friday culture in NHS is putting patients at risk, Streeting warns following death of teen

• ‘Martha’s rule’ would make it easier for worried patients to get a second opinion
• Wes Streeting admitted today the rule was ‘something that Labour is looking at’ 
• Martha Mills died in hospital in 2021 after medics failed to escalate her care 

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has said the NHS’s ‘Monday to Friday culture’ following concerns over the death of Martha Mills. 

The 13-year-old died in hospital in 2021 after developing sepsis with a coroner ruling she could have have survived if medics had transferred her to intensive care earlier.

Her death, which followed a bank holiday weekend, came despite concerns from her parents about her condition at the time, with medics ignoring them and instead seeking to ‘manage’ them. 

Speaking about the criticism of weekend staffing levels, Mr Streeting admitted today he was ‘worried’ that the Monday to Friday culture sees patients ‘potentially at greater risk over the weekends’. 

Asked on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether it was something that needed examining, he replied ‘it is something that Labour is looking at as we think about the next general election’. 

Martha Mills, pictured, who would have been 16 today, died after developing sepsis while under the care of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in south London

Mr Streeting was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about criticism of weekend staffing levels after the 13-year-old died while under the care of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in south London

He added: ‘I am worried about the fact that NHS services on any day of the week are overstretched and poorly performing in too many cases.

‘I do worry about the Monday to Friday culture that sees patients potentially at greater risk over the weekends – that just can’t be tolerated.’

Martha’s mother, Merope Mills, an editor at the Guardian, said she and her husband, Paul Laity, raised concerns about Martha’s deteriorating health a number of times but these were not acted upon.

Martha eventually developed a rash, with her mother voicing her concerns to NHS staff that the youngster would go into septic shock over a bank holiday weekend.

One of the trust’s own intensive care doctors told Martha’s inquest he would ‘100 per cent’ have admitted her if he had seen her. 

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where Martha was being cared for, has since apologised for mistakes in her care. 

Asked later about changes made under Labour in 2003, which mean doctors can refuse to attend at weekends for non-emergency cases, he said: ‘The last Labour government delivered the shortest waiting times, the highest patient satisfaction in the history of the NHS, but I also talk to NHS staff who increasingly want more flexible working.

‘And I wonder if there’s the opportunity to have the best of both worlds here, which is seven-day care and consistent care right throughout the week for patients, at the same time as offering NHS staff greater flexibility as they juggle their own family lives.

‘Those are some of the reform-driven conversations that I’m having right across the NHS workforce at the moment.’

Asked specifically about inadequate weekend cover in Martha’s case, he said ‘that’s something I take very seriously and why we’re looking at it’.

‘It’s not something I can make a commitment on today, but it is something we’re looking at and you can certainly expect to hear more from Labour on this as we approach the general election,’ he said.

Martha’s mother, Merope Mills, pictured, has said she and her husband, Paul Laity, raised concerns about Martha’s deteriorating health a number of times but these were not acted upon

Mr Streeting said he had shed tears while listening to Ms Mills tell her story and pledged to implement Martha’s rule, which would give patients, families and carers the chance to easily request a second opinion from senior medics in the event of a suspected deterioration or serious concern.

He said: ‘We’ve got to take action because one of my reflections listening to Merope speak about her experiences as a mother is that this is someone who is very capable of articulating for herself, very confident working in a professional environment which can be quite argy-bargy actually.

READ MORE: Martha’s rule: Bereaved parents of 13-year-old who died of sepsis call for patients to be given the right to a second opinion in medical care

‘If someone like her didn’t know her rights, and wasn’t able to get the NHS to listen to her and to listen to the family, what hope is there for some of the constituents that I represent, where often they struggle to articulate, to get a hearing at all?

‘So I just think something’s got to change and that’s why I think Martha’s rule is something that’s got to happen, it’s something that a Labour government would deliver.’

Rob Behrens, the parliamentary and health service ombudsman, told Today he had limited powers to look at wider NHS issues because the law states Martha’s family would need to bring the case to him.

‘In law, unfortunately, unlike all my European counterparts, I have to wait until someone brings an issue or complaint to me,’ he said.

‘I don’t have the power to go out and look at issues unless people complain about them.’

He said he would welcome such powers, adding he was ‘virtually the only ombudsman in Europe that doesn’t have that power’.

Mr Behrens said: ‘The key point is the people who most need our help as ombudsman are the people least likely to complain’.

He said Martha’s rule would ‘make a difference if it is properly introduced and if it has the support of the NHS leaders and culture’.

‘Unfortunately, there are big issues around the NHS culture and its defensiveness and its preference for supporting organisational reputation over patient safety. That has to be addressed for something like this to work properly,’ he added.

He said ‘very little is often done as a result of these inquiries’ that follow patient deaths.

‘There are big issues around the failure of the duty of candour, the failure of whistleblowing, which need to be addressed in order to change the culture in the NHS, which depends upon leaders actually taking responsibility for championing patient safety,’ he said.

On Monday, Mr Barclay told the House of Commons the Government was exploring introducing Martha’s rule to the UK.

He said similar measures in the Australian state of Queensland had saved lives ‘and I’ve asked my department and the NHS to look into whether similar measures could improve patient safety here in the UK’.

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