We submitted our response to the 10-Year Health Plan, calling for the Government to take urgent action to tackle group B Strep (GBS) infections in newborns.
GBS is a leading cause of severe infections including meningitis in newborn babies. Here in the UK, we need to do more to prevent these usually preventable infections and reduce the heartache, death and disability that is part of the group B Strep journey for too many families.
So we are advocating for:
- the NHS to offer routine testing for GBS during pregnancy: this would significantly reduce early-onset GBS infections compared with the risk-based approach currently in use. Parents and professionals want to see this change, and we hope the Government will listen.
- with the rise of digital systems and telemedicine, we need improved digital systems within the NHS that work with each other to prevent missed diagnoses and improve care.
- we need GBS infection in babies to be made a notifiable disease to improve knowledge about its incidence, help us track and understand these infections, and support future prevention strategies – be that testing in pregnancy or maternal vaccines.
- regardless of the prevention strategy used, we need much better awareness and education about group B Strep among doctors and midwives, as well as among expectant and new parents.
Let’s work together to protect our newborns and create a healthier future for all.
