Martha's Rule extended to all maternity services

Mothers and newborns across the country will be better protected, as landmark patient safety measure Martha’s Rule will be rolled out to all maternity settings in England, following a string of serious and sustained failures at maternity wards in the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH).

Donna Ockenden’s review - the largest into maternity and neonatal services in NHS history - considered the experiences of maternity care for 2,500 families and found women ignored or complaints dismissed, missed opportunities to identify deteriorating patients and a culture of silencing both junior staff and parents.

The government will commit to rolling out Martha’s Rule across maternity and neonatal wards in England to ensure every parent can request a rapid review from an independent medical team if a baby or mother’s condition is deteriorating and they are concerned this is not being responded to.

The scheme - which is helping transform the NHS’s culture and has been rolled out for inpatients in every acute hospital in England - has already been piloted in 15 maternity and neonatal settings, with rollout to more expected this year.

NHS data shows that there have already been over 2,100 calls to Martha’s Rule requiring changes in a patient’s treatment, with over 600 calls leading to potentially life-saving interventions to transfer them to enhanced levels of care.

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Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 24 June 2026