The NHS is expanding Martha’s Rule to all hospital emergency departments in England to help patients and families challenge staff and seek a rapid review of their care if they want.

It is named after Martha Mills, who died aged 13 in 2021 after developing blood poisoning, or sepsis. Her family’s concerns were not listened to, which later prompted her parents, Merope and Paul, to change that culture by creating the rule.

Patients, loved ones and staff in A&E units will be able to call a dedicated phone number to trigger an urgent review if a patient’s condition is deteriorating and they are concerned this is not being taken on board.

The nationwide expansion should be complete by March 2028, after a trial at seven trusts. It is already being rolled out in all inpatient wards.

Scotland is beginning to use Martha’s Rule and Northern Ireland is considering using it, while Wales has a similar scheme called Call4Concern.

A coroner ruled, external in 2022 that Martha would probably have survived if she had been transferred earlier to intensive care and given appropriate treatment.

She was in King’s College Hospital in London after a cycling accident on a family holiday in which she fell heavily onto the handlebars after skidding on some sand.

It left her with serious injuries to her pancreas.

After a few weeks, she developed an infection and then signs of sepsis – when the body’s response to an infection is overwhelming and ends up injuring its own tissues and organs – but this was not managed properly.

Prof Aidan Fowler, national director of patient safety at NHS England, said the expansion of Martha’s Rule would give families and NHS staff “a critical new lifeline” to help improve care and save more lives.

He told the BBC that a Martha’s Rule call would mean a patient receives an “appropriate response” – for example, a senior nurse or member of the critical care outreach team could conduct a review of the case.

Staff can also ask for a review from a different team if they are concerned the appropriate action is not being taken.

Elliott Paterson, from Cheltenham, told the BBC he “truly believes” Martha’s Rule saved the life of his 67-year-old father, Chris, who was treated at Gloucester Royal Hospital last year after he broke four ribs falling off his bike.

Elliott said his father’s treatment in the surgical ward was complicated due to his Addison’s disease, a rare autoimmune condition affecting the adrenal glands.

The family noticed Chris’ deterioration in health, Elliott said, and called the critical care team, which was then able to treat both Chris’ injuries and his Addison’s.

“To hear that Martha’s Rule is now to be rolled out across the NHS is brilliant news and I hope that for more people it will continue to save lives,” Elliott said.

“I am incredibly fortunate and grateful to have had Martha’s Rule at our disposal at the time.”

During an eight-month pilot of the scheme at seven emergency departments, 69 calls were made to dedicated Martha’s Rule phone numbers, including some calls relating to acute deterioration following an urgent clinical review.

In some cases, it led to a patient having immediate surgery or being transferred to intensive care.

Fowler told the BBC’s Today programme that, while these numbers might seem relatively small, the decision to roll out Martha’s Rule further was “on a background of very, very extensive experience in other settings”.

This included in-patient wards, where he said his teams had received “nearly 20,000 calls” – three quarters of which came from families.

Fowler said: “Early testing has shown that Martha’s Rule can work well in busy A&Es and builds on the evidence from our adult and children’s wards, where thousands of calls have been made by patients, families and staff to date, with many leading to changes in treatment and potentially life-saving interventions.”

Questioned whether busy A&E staff might struggle with a sudden influx of calls, Fowler said this had not played out in the recent tests.

“Actually people have used it very sensibly,” he added. “We’ve tested it through winter and across this busy summer, and therefore I am not concerned that when we roll this out we are going to be overwhelmed with calls.”

Health minister Baroness Merron said the initiative was part of “wider efforts to put patient safety at the heart of the NHS”.

Actor Jason Watkins, whose two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Maude died from sepsis in 2011, praised the rollout, saying Martha’s Rule was already “making a difference on the wards”.

“It enables a parent to have a voice and if there is an issue, that is addressed,” he told BBC Breakfast, urging parents: “If you’re at all worried when you go into A&E, ask for a second opinion.”

Watkins said the rollout of Martha’s law could benefit medical professionals too, explaining: “Those extremely dedicated medical practitioners, nurses, doctors and consultants, it gives them a pause and a thought [of] ‘am I doing everything I can to assess this child accurately?’.”

Before the phased rollout is completed in England, patients and their families can check with their local hospital or NHS trust where Martha’s Rule is available by visiting the trust’s website or asking hospital staff.