Call for Concern (Martha’s Rule)

Call for Concern is our patient safety service for patients who are staying in hospital (inpatients). It gives patients and loved ones a way to call for immediate help and advice when they feel that the health care team has not recognised their own, or a loved one’s, changing condition.

Here, at the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, we aim to give our patients, their families, friends, and carers an active role in care.

Our Critical Care team delivers Call for Concern. It is available 24 hours a day.

We have started by testing this service in our adult inpatient areas at the RD&E in Exeter. This excludes inpatients in the maternity, paediatric, and neonatal units.

We are evaluating this pilot scheme, and we are aiming to implement this at the inpatient adult wards at NDDH in Barnstaple later this year. We will also be expanding to include paediatrics and maternity inpatient services.

Only use Call for Concern if you need immediate help and advice when you feel that the health care team has not recognised your own, or a loved one’s, changing condition.

Do not use Call for Concern for general issues, such as the hospital bed, room, food, or parking. Instead, please speak to a member of the ward team, the nurse in charge, or the ward manager.

Speak to one of the ward nursing team or nurse in charge if you feel a condition is worsening.

If you are still concerned, contact our Call for Concern team on 01392 411611. Ask for the Call for Concern service.

When our Call for Concern team receives your call, they will need to know:

• Your name (if you are the patient) or the name of the patient you are concerned about
• The name of the ward
• A brief description of your concern

Our Call for Concern responder will assess how to help you or your loved one. The responder will decide how best to resolve your concerns.

This may involve:

• asking your, or your loved one’s, health care team to visit you on the ward to make an assessment
• sending members of the critical care team to assess your, or your loved one’s, current state of health and make a plan with the patient’s medical team.

Our Call for Concern team will contact you to check your concerns have been looked into. They will reassure you that you, or your loved one, have received the appropriate care.

The Call for Concern responder will aim to quickly answer your call and resolve your concerns. However, if demand is high, there may be times when the team may take a little longer to respond to your call. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

A concern is not a complaint. Please do not feel worried that using this system will negatively affect a patient’s care in any way. We understand that sometimes a patient, or a close loved one, can see that something is wrong before we can.

Please still tell us you have a concern. Talk to the nurse or midwife looking after you or the patient. If you remain concerned, you can ask to speak to the shift co-ordinator and they will help ensure your concerns are heard and actioned if appropriate.