Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has pledged to examine a “Monday to Friday culture” in the NHS in the wake of the death of Martha Mills.
Mr Streeting was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about criticism of weekend staffing levels after the 13-year-old died while under the care of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in south London.
A coroner ruled last year that Martha would most likely have survived if doctors had identified the warning signs of sepsis and transferred her to intensive care earlier.
One of the trust’s own intensive care doctors told Martha’s inquest he would “100%” have admitted her if he had seen her. The trust has since apologised for mistakes in her care.
Martha’s mother, Merope Mills, an editor at the Guardian, has said she and her husband, Paul Laity, raised concerns about Martha’s deteriorating health a number of times but these were not acted upon.
Martha eventually developed a rash, with her mother voicing her concerns to NHS staff that the youngster would go into septic shock over a bank holiday weekend.
I do worry about the Monday to Friday culture that sees patients potentially at greater risk over the weekends - that just can't be tolerated— Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting
Regarding Ms Mills’s concerns over how quiet the NHS wards were on weekends, Mr Streeting was asked on Today: “Is this something that you think needs looking at – at the contracts of senior doctors?”
Mr Streeting replied: “It is something that Labour is looking at as we think about the next general election.
“I am worried about the fact that NHS services on any day of the week are overstretched and poorly performing in too many cases.
“I do worry about the Monday to Friday culture that sees patients potentially at greater risk over the weekends – that just can’t be tolerated.”
I wonder if there's the opportunity to have the best of both worlds here, which is seven-day care and consistent care right throughout the week for patients, at the same time as offering NHS staff greater flexibility as they juggle their own family lives— Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting
Asked about changes made under Labour in 2003 which mean doctors can refuse to attend at weekends for non-emergency cases, he said: “The last Labour government delivered the shortest waiting times, the highest patient satisfaction in the history of the NHS, but I also talk to NHS staff who increasingly want more flexible working.
“And I wonder if there’s the opportunity to have the best of both worlds here, which is seven-day care and consistent care right throughout the week for patients, at the same time as offering NHS staff greater flexibility as they juggle their own family lives.
“Those are some of the reform-driven conversations that I’m having right across the NHS workforce at the moment.”
Asked specifically about inadequate weekend cover in Martha’s case, he said “that’s something I take very seriously and why we’re looking at it”.
“It’s not something I can make a commitment on today, but it is something we’re looking at and you can certainly expect to hear more from Labour on this as we approach the general election,” he said.
The key point is the people who most need our help as ombudsman are the people least likely to complain— Health ombudsman Rob Behrens
Mr Streeting said he had shed tears while listening to Ms Mills tell her story and pledged to implement Martha’s rule, which would give patients, families and carers the chance to easily request a second opinion from senior medics in the event of a suspected deterioration or serious concern.
He said: “We’ve got to take action because one of my reflections listening to Merope speak about her experiences as a mother is that this is someone who is very capable of articulating for herself, very confident working in a professional environment which can be quite argy-bargy actually.
“If someone like her didn’t know her rights, and wasn’t able to get the NHS to listen to her and to listen to the family, what hope is there for some of the constituents that I represent, where often they struggle to articulate, to get a hearing at all?
“So I just think something’s got to change and that’s why I think Martha’s rule is something that’s got to happen, it’s something that a Labour government would deliver.”
Rob Behrens, the parliamentary and health service ombudsman, told Today he had limited powers to look at wider NHS issues because the law states Martha’s family would need to bring the case to him.
Unfortunately, there are big issues around the NHS culture and its defensiveness and its preference for supporting organisational reputation over patient safety— Health ombudsman Rob Behrens
“In law, unfortunately, unlike all my European counterparts, I have to wait until someone brings an issue or complaint to me,” he said.
“I don’t have the power to go out and look at issues unless people complain about them.”
He said he would welcome such powers, adding he was “virtually the only ombudsman in Europe that doesn’t have that power”.
Mr Behrens said: “The key point is the people who most need our help as ombudsman are the people least likely to complain”.
He said Martha’s rule would “make a difference if it is properly introduced and if it has the support of the NHS leaders and culture”.
“Unfortunately, there are big issues around the NHS culture and its defensiveness and its preference for supporting organisational reputation over patient safety. That has to be addressed for something like this to work properly,” he added.
He said “very little is often done as a result of these inquiries” that follow patient deaths.
“There are big issues around the failure of the duty of candour, the failure of whistleblowing, which need to be addressed in order to change the culture in the NHS, which depends upon leaders actually taking responsibility for championing patient safety,” he said.
On Monday, Mr Barclay told the House of Commons the Government was exploring introducing Martha’s rule to the UK.
He said similar measures in Queensland had saved lives “and I’ve asked my department and the NHS to look into whether similar measures could improve patient safety here in the UK”.
