Jess’s Rule change named after Jessica Brady, who died of cancer despite 20 GP visits
Changes in the way that Dr’s access patients after this tragedy. The family battled to change the law to prevent this happening again.
People with potentially deadly illnesses could be diagnosed sooner thanks to a new rule named after a young woman who died after doctors failed to spot her cancer.
The government has announced that Jess’s Rule will be rolled out across England to prevent avoidable deaths.
GPs will be told to take a “three strikes and rethink” approach to patients who have had three appointments already, to prevent missing serious illnesses such as cancer.
The rule is named after 27-year-old Jessica Brady from Stevenage, an engineer for Airbus, who had repeated GP appointments in the months leading up to her death in 2020.
Ms Brady contacted her GP surgery around 20 times over a six-month period, with symptoms including abdominal pain, coughing, vomiting and weight loss.
She was offered virtual appointments due to Covid restrictions and given numerous medications including antibiotics and steroids.
She was also told she was suffering from Long Covid and that she was too young for her symptoms to be anything serious.
Take a look at this tragic story and how the family have changed the way
