The Lymphoma Action Policy Team keeps a close eye on laws and legislation relevant to people affected by lymphoma, advocating for change where needed. These are a few recent developments in the field of UK policy in healthcare that we’ve been following.

Jess's Rule

Jess’s Rule is a primary care initiative appealing to GPs and their teams. It asks them to ‘reflect, review and rethink’ if no diagnosis is clear after a patient’s third visit with the same or worsening symptoms.

It follows the death of Jessica Brady in December 2020 at the age of 27 due to cancer. After 20 visits to her GP practice over 5 months, Jess still had no diagnosis. She was admitted to hospital and discovered to have stage 4 adenocarcinoma, by which time it was too late for any treatment. Jess sadly passed away shortly afterwards. Jess’s family have since campaigned for the introduction of Jess’s Rule, asking primary care teams to take a fresh look at a patient’s symptoms after visit three. This could mean a physical examination, asking colleagues for a second opinion or considering diagnoses initially ruled out due to the patient’s age or demographics.

The initiative aims to save lives by helping more patients receive an earlier diagnosis so they can start treatment sooner. This is especially important within the cancer community, where earlier diagnosis can improve the chances of survival and recovery.

Martha's Rule

Martha’s Rule is a patient safety initiative to support timely review if a patient’s condition begins to deteriorate. It was developed in response to the death of Martha Mills and other cases related to the management of deterioration.

Martha, aged 13, developed sepsis while being treated in hospital for an injury to her pancreas following a bike accident. It was her family who first noticed that her condition was getting worse. However, healthcare teams did not respond to their concerns. A coroner later ruled that Martha would probably have survived if she had been moved to intensive care sooner.

Each hospital will eventually have its own Martha’s Rule contact number to call, to request a rapid review of a patient’s condition. A different team will then be brought in to assess the situation in response. Over 100 hospitals in England have already put Martha’s Rule in place. Roll out to all inpatient wards in England is in progress and all hospital emergency departments will be on board by March 2028. Other UK nations are also taking note.

Families and friends may often be the first to notice a change in the condition of their loved one. They can use the number if they feel that concerns they have raised are going unheard. Individual healthcare staff and patients themselves in this position are also encouraged to use the number.

To check whether a hospital has put Martha’s Rule in place, visit the NHS trust website for the hospital or ask staff on the ward.

The Rare Cancers Act 2026

The Rare Cancers Act 2026 was passed into UK law in March of 2026. It aims to provide better UK access to the latest treatments for rare cancers and to improve recruitment pathways for clinical trials. For the purposes of the Act, a rare cancer is defined as a cancer that affects not more than 1 in 2,000 people in the UK. While lymphoma is the UK’s most common blood cancer, it is still defined as rare.

As part of the Act, there will be a review of UK regulations around access to orphan drugs. Orphan drugs in this context are medicines for rare cancers where no other options are approved or where the medicine is costly but will be of significant benefit to the people it can treat. The review aims to make sure there are no unnecessary barriers to patients in the UK having access to these medicines. The government also plans to appoint a National Specialty Lead for Rare Cancers. Their job will be to coordinate research into rare cancers and to work with patient communities to facilitate their involvement in clinical trials. There are also plans to use the NHS App to provide cancer patients with information about the clinical trials in which they might be eligible to participate.