Seventeen charities banded together to co-sign a letter to the Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Care Quality (Mr Ben Gummer) and the Chief Medical Officer (Prof Dame Sally Davies) following the failure of the National Maternity Review to address the most common cause of serious infection in newborn babies and meningitis in babies under 3 months – group B Streptococcus (GBS).
We ask for the UK National Screening Committee to review its policy on antenatal GBS screening as a priority (in countries that have introduced antenatal GBS screening – recognised internationally as best practice – rates of these infections have fallen significantly).
In the meantime, we ask that all women are educated about GBS as part of routine antenatal care and that all health professionals in maternity care have adequate training and information to provide this, including access to the tests recommended to detect GBS carriage.
