Patients and carers are key partners in the quest to make care safer, argues Tessa Richards
The UK government s commitment to implement “Martha’s rule,” is good news for patients.1 It will give patients and their families an explicit right to request a second opinion if a patient’s health condition is getting worse and they feel their concerns are not being taken seriously. A similar rule, called Ryan’s rule, introduced in Queensland, Australia in 2013 was spurred by the activism of the parents of a three year old boy who, as in Martha’s case, died a preventable death. It s been widely evoked, reported to have saved lives, and adopted in other states.2 Both rules are testimony to the determination, persistence, and skill of patient advocates to drive policy change to make care safer in the wake of personal tragedy.
Martha was 13 when she died two years ago from septic shock. In a profoundly moving 22 minute interview on Radio 4’s Today programme (broadcast on 4 Septembe
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