On Wednesday 22 October 2025, the Group B Strep Support team were in Parliament, speaking directly to MPs and Lords about the urgent need to improve group B Strep prevention and care.
We were attending the launch of ‘Time to Act‘, a report co-written by GBSS and rapid test company, Cepheid. It was great to have been joined by many members of Parliament and decision-makers, including Prof Dame Lesley Regan, the Women’s Health Ambassador for England, and Dr Jasmine Leonce, National Maternity Speciality Advisor to NHS England, and Kate Lancaster, CEO of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists – all helping to highlight the importance of this issue.
The report launch was hosted by Andy McNae MP and Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick, who both spoke passionately about the need for change on group B Strep, and how they will be encouraging the Government to take action.
We were very grateful to Lynsey White, who shared the incredibly moving story of her son Frankie, who sadly died from group B Strep sepsis in 2014 at just four days old. Lynsey’s experience drove home to those attending how group B Strep infections are more than just statistics; behind every infection is a family whose world has been turned upside down.
Our CEO Jane Plumb MBE also spoke, highlighting that “Every expectant parent deserves clear, accurate information and every health professional needs up-to-date training to help stop the preventable infections.”
We recommend the Government take action to immediately:
- Make group B Strep a ‘notifiable disease’, ensuring consistent and mandatory reporting of GBS infections in babies across the UK
- Implement existing guidance on group B Strep infection consistently and thoroughly across the NHS
- Expedite the UK National Screening Committee’s review of universal screening for GBS as soon as the results of the GBS3 Trial are available.
We encourage all members of the Group B Strep Support community to get involved by reading and sharing the report by clicking below.
Our voice is louder, together.
