One woman said she wouldn’t have had to fight for her daughter’s life if new measures being introduced at the hospital had been implemented nine years ago.
Kayleigh Hawkins, from Essex, was a student nurse in 2015 when her nine-year-old daughter Brooke developed symptoms of a brain tumor.
She claimed that her condition was initially dismissed as a stomach problem at the hospital, but she persuaded a clinician to give her an MRI scan.
Martha’s Rule aims to give patients and families the ability to quickly review their care and is expected to be rolled out in at least 100 NHS trusts in April.
“If this film had been released in 2015, I wouldn’t have been involved in this fight,” Hawkins told BBC Essex.
“This allows patients and families to get a second opinion from another clinician who can see things from a different perspective.”
Ms Hawkins said she took her daughter to various GP appointments and then to A&E at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex.
Brooke missed school because she was vomiting, she said.
“The fights I had before Brooke was diagnosed were disgusting,” she added.
“If I hadn’t done that, Brooke wouldn’t be here today.”
She Googled her symptoms and eventually convinced a clinician to order an MRI scan, which revealed she had a grade 4 brain tumor and needed life-saving surgery, she said.
Hawkins said she spent about two weeks making sure her daughter received proper care.
Brooke, now 17, was “in good spirits” and was studying performing arts at university, her mother said.
NHS England said the Martha’s Rule escalation process would be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
If a patient’s condition deteriorates rapidly or if the family feels that the patient is not receiving the care they need, an urgent clinical examination by another team within the hospital is initiated.
The move comes after 13-year-old Martha Mills died in 2021 after developing sepsis.
The escalation process will be available at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which operates hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich.
Commenting on Brooke’s care at Bloomfield Hospital, David Walker, chief medical officer at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We will continue to work closely with our patients to ensure continuity of care and experience. We will continue to strive to improve.”
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