Call 4 Concern© at UHS (Martha's Rule) adults
Are you concerned about your own or a relative or friend's health condition?
If your concern is about a child, please see our Call 4 Concern (Martha's Rule) child health page here.
What is Call 4 Concern?
Call 4 Concern (C4C) is a safety service for inpatients (patients who are staying in hospital) enabling patients and families to call for immediate help and advice when they feel concerned that the health care team has not recognised their own or their loved one’s changing condition.
Here at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS), we aim to empower our patients and their families, friends, and carers to have an active role in their own or loved one’s care.
Call 4 Concern is delivered by the critical care outreach team who are available 24 hours a day to help support ward teams and you.
When to make a Call 4 Concern call
Call the Call 4 Concern service:
- If, after speaking to the nurses or doctors looking after the patient, you remain worried or concerned about the patient’s health condition.
- There is a noticeable change in your own or the patient's health and the healthcare team is not recognising your concern.
Contact us by calling the number at the bottom of the page.
When not to make a Call 4 Concern call
- If you have a problem regarding the hospital bed, room, food, parking, or any other general issue please speak to a member of the ward team, or ask for the nurse in charge.
- You can contact the ward matron to discuss any further issues.
Responding to your call
When the Call 4 Concern service team receive your call, they will need to know:
- Your name (if you are the patient) or the name of the patient you are concerned about.
- The name of the ward.
- A brief description of your concern.
What happens next
The Call 4 Concern team will then assess how best to help you or your loved one and decide on the best course of action to try to resolve your concerns. This may involve:
- asking your or your loved one’s healthcare team to visit you on the ward to perform an assessment.
- sending members of the critical care outreach team (experienced clinical practitioners specialising in reviewing and assessing unwell adult patients) to assess your or your loved one’s current state of health.
Someone from the C4C team will then contact you to check you are happy that your concerns have been addressed and that you or your loved one has received the appropriate treatment, if needed.
Please note that the C4C team will aim to answer your call and resolve your concerns in a timely manner. However, depending on the demand for the service, there may be times when the team are delayed in responding to your call or visiting you. We thank you for your patience and understanding.
A concern is not a complaint! Please do not feel concerned that using this system will negatively affect your or the patient’s care in any way. We recognise that sometimes a patient or a close loved one can see that something is wrong before we can. No one knows your health care needs better than you and your family.
Contact us
Call 02380 777 222 – ask for the Call 4 Concern service.
Feedback is always welcome. Please take a moment to feedback about the Call 4 Concern service using the QR code below, or visit the gthr website.
Thank you.
The Call 4 Concern copyright is owned by Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and used with their kind permission.