Merope Mills Gets Top Honour for Creating Martha's Rule
Journalist Merope Mills has been appointed CBE — one of the UK's highest civilian honours — for her work in patient safety. She was among 1,182 people recognised in the 2026 King's Birthday Honours list, announced on 12 June 2026.
Mills' campaign started with a personal tragedy. Her daughter Martha died in 2021 at age 13. After her death, Mills fought for a new rule that would allow hospital patients — or their families — to ask for a second opinion from a different doctor if they believe the patient is getting worse and no one is listening to their concerns. This became Martha's Rule.
Today, Martha's Rule works in every major hospital in England. It became active at all acute hospitals on 4 September 2025. By May 2026, early figures cited by The Guardian suggested that the rule may have saved more than 500 lives since it started in 2024 — up from about 400 in March 2026.
Before the rule existed, patients who worried their condition was getting worse had no guaranteed way to get a second opinion. Martha's Rule creates a fast track that patients can use right away, without having to go through normal complaint channels. It required hospitals to set up clear procedures, train staff, and have doctors available 24 hours a day to do these reviews. Getting it running everywhere by September 2025 was a big undertaking.
What made Mills' honour notable is how she did it. She went through journalists and politicians to turn a personal story into an official policy that is now written into how hospitals work. Other NHS reforms have started with individual cases — like the scandals at Mid Staffordshire Hospital — but getting from tragedy to actual national policy in four years is unusual. Mills achieved it quickly.
The honour list also recognised actress Helen Mirren and other public figures. For Mills, the CBE marks the end of one phase of her campaign. Martha's Rule is now part of how English hospitals operate. What happens next is whether the lives-saved numbers stay as high when more time passes, and whether all hospitals use the rule in the same way.
