Prof Alan Cameron set out the UK National Screening Committee’s (NSC) current policy position on antenatal screening for GBS carriage (2012):
- Routine screening for GBS carriage in late pregnancy for all pregnant women is currently not recommended in the UK.
- There was insufficient evidence that benefits gained from screening all women in late pregnancy and treating those women with confirmed GBS carriage by intravenous antibiotics during labour outweigh harm.
- The next review by the National Screening Committee is due in 2015/16.
We certainly feel that more evidence is needed about the care received by women to refine national policy in the prevention of early-onset GBS infection, to standardise local guidelines and to ultimately reduce the incidence of this disease, which is why we’re all here today.
Prof Alan Cameron, Vice President Clinical Quality, Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists and Member of the UK National Screening Committee