THE NEED FOR MARTHAS LAW-WHY NHS TREATMENT AND CARE NEEDS FUNDAMENTAL REFORM.

I am recovering having just listened to Merone Mills on Radio 4 Today programme (around 7.40 this morning 4 September ) talking about the avoidable death of her 14 Year daughter, Martha, in an NHS specialist hospital. The most moving testimony I have heard in a long while. And of visceral importance too. Merone is lobbying for a new law ‘Marthas Law’ that gives a family the right to a second opinion if they are concerned about the diagnosis or treatment of their loved one in hospital. Martha had a minor bike accident that damaged her pancreas. If properly treated and monitored this should not have proved fatal. But negligence by NHS staff including senior consultants and duty doctors, meant that she got sepsis, which was then not diagnosed quick enough and she should have been put in intensive care before it was too late. Merone knew that her daughter was very seriously ill and probably had sepsis but was ignored or patronised by staff. She felt impotent with no agency. She deconstructs many of the problems endemic to the NHS ,experienced by many of us who have watched someone close to us die and been at the interface between NHS critical care and families.. Its important to point out that, generally, if it is an immediate obvious emergency the NHS generally is very good. And life saving. But too often after that initial emergency help the quality of treatment and care falls off a cliff..
Merone said that the hierarchy in which senior doctors opinions are never challenged is a huge issue. Doctors get it wrong and family members issues and concerns are ignored. True. You have no agency and there is no transparency or real accountability.
I remember from my experience at Kingston Hospital family visiting hours were arranged after Doctors and Consultants did their rounds, so as to avoid it, seems any contact with the family who couldnt be briefed and ask questions about the on-going treatment . We as it happens simply ignored visiting hours in order to get daily access to doctors
The NHS operates in silos. And this is the second problem. Nobody has ownership of the patients case. There is no one person you can talk to (if you can get access which often you cant )
who can give you chapter and verse on the treatment and prognosis. My experience is that they have very little time for you. And every day you see a different doctor , some more assiduous at reading notes than others. I remember challenging doctors three or four times saying you know he has already had that, or youve done that test already etc.. They dont seem to talk to each other in the way you might expect leading to a lack of continuity and inevitably a series of mistakes.
Third and many people seem unaware of this, as Merone pointed out , the NHS doest provide the same quality of treatment and care 7 days a week. The care noticeably drops off at Weekends and Bank Holidays. Those tests you think are vital wont happen on a Sunday or Bank Holiday Monday And that Doctor you spoke to on Friday wont be there or Saturday, nor will any other Doctor. To me this is quite staggering and unbelievable. Consultants as part of their contract can opt out of weekend work. God help you if something goes wrong at a weekend! This is the NHS in the 21st Century.
Last but no means least, which we have touched on already, if you have real concerns and worries there is nobody to talk to. You are patronised fobbed off avoided. If you break the rules and are there when the Doctor comes round, some treat you with contempt, others will give you 30 seconds before they march down the corridor with you in pursuit. You have no agency as concerned relatives. You cant challenge them or even alert them to an issue of concern. They and their opinions are sacrosanct. But they get things wrong, as do the nurses, (my god they do) and quite often the family are the only people who notice the sins of commission and omission because they are there day in day out (and yes at weekends) observing questioning and indeed caring . That is why the NHS needs fundamental operational reform. In the meantime we should support #marthaslaw #MeroneMills #NHS #nhsreform #demos