What can you do if a hospital won't listen to your concerns?

If you are worried that a loved one's condition is getting worse in hospital, and you feel that hospital staff are not responding to your concerns, you are not alone.

Many families describe the same experience: repeatedly raising concerns with nurses or doctors, being told everything is fine, and watching the patient's condition continue to decline.

This situation is more common than many people realise, and it is also one of the most frequent underlying causes of avoidable harm in hospitals.

Patients, families and carers are often the first to notice the early signs of deterioration, simply because they know the patient best. When those concerns are not escalated or acted upon quickly, the consequences can be serious.

Why this sometimes happens

There are several reasons families can feel unheard in a hospital setting, including:

• Ward staff being under pressure and managing competing demands from other patients
• A lack of clear pathway for a family or carer to formally escalate a concern
• Uncertainty among families about whether their concern is being taken seriously internally
• Junior staff being reluctant to escalate concerns to senior colleagues.

Recognising that these barriers exist is important, but it does not mean concerns should go unactioned. There is now a formal, NHS-wide route that exists specifically for this situation.

What you can do if a hospital doesn't listen

If you are concerned that a patient's condition is deteriorating and you feel your concerns are not being responded to, you can:

• Ask directly for a senior member of staff, such as the nurse in charge or the consultant on call, to review the patient
• Ask hospital staff whether the hospital has a rapid review or escalation process, such as Martha's Rule or Call for Concern
• Contact the hospital's Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), who can help raise concerns during a hospital stay
• Look for posters or information about Martha's Rule displayed on the ward, or check the hospital's website
• Keep a note of who you spoke to, when, and what was said, in case you need to escalate further.

Formal escalation route

Martha's Rule is a patient safety initiative being rolled out across NHS Trusts and NHS foundation trusts, giving patients, families, carers and staff a clear route to request an urgent review from a different team if they are worried a patient is deteriorating and feel they are not being listened to.

It was introduced following the death of Martha Mills, aged 13, who died in 2021 after developing sepsis in hospital. A Coroner later ruled that Martha would probably have survived had she been moved to intensive care earlier. Her family's concerns about her deteriorating condition were not, in their view, acted upon quickly enough.

Every NHS Trust and NHS foundation trust is required to have implemented Martha's Rule by 31 March 2027, and many hospitals already have it in place. There is no single national phone number: each hospital has its own dedicated contact, which should be advertised on the ward or available from staff.

If your concerns were not acted upon

Sometimes, despite raising concerns, escalation does not happen quickly enough, or at all, and a patient comes to harm as a result. If this has happened to you or a loved one, it is worth understanding that a failure to listen to and act on concerns can, in some circumstances, form the basis of a medical negligence claim.

This may be relevant where:

• Concerns raised by a patient, family member or carer were not documented or investigated
• A request for a review from a different team was refused or ignored
• An earlier review would likely have prevented the harm that occurred.

Getting legal advice

If you believe a hospital failed to act on your concerns, or a loved one's, and this led to avoidable harm, our medical negligence lawyers can help you understand whether you have grounds for a claim.