Patient Safety Minister Nadine Dorries has issued a call for hospitals to use gold-standard test for mothers at risk of giving babies Group B Strep, after the large-scale National Institute for Health Research-funded clinical trial on testing for GBS had received ethical approval in 2019 with an estimated 80 hopsitals required to take part ensuring the rial screening could reach 320,00 women, only 15 hospitals have been able to commit.
In this latest news article, Nadine Dorries said
“I would like to see every pregnant woman in the UK tested for GBS at a clinic check at 35 to 37 weeks. To reach his point, we need to gather solid evidence that this would work and would dramatically reduce the number of GBS complications at birth. To gather that evidence correctly, we need the gold-standard ECM test to be the default test.”
“Separately, we also need 80 trusts across the UK to participate in the trial. This a challenge that this Government will not shy away from, because we don’t just want the UK to be one of the safest countries in the world to give birth, we want it to be the safest. We cannot reach that point until we eliminate GBS in pregnant women and universal screening is introduced.”
Group B Strep specialist Stuart Bramley commented on this latest news and call from the Patient Safety Minister.
“It is excellent to read articles like this; and to see that such a senior politician is putting her weight behind the much-needed campaign to extend testing for Group B Strep. As Nadine Dorries (who was herself a nurse) notes, in 90% of cases the harmful effects of Strep B could be avoided. What is much less excellent is how the clear advice given by the RCOG (and other bodies such as the Royal College of Midwives and the charity / campaign organisation GBS Support) is simply not being followed by hospitals. What happens when this infection strikes should not come as any surprise to health chiefs yet testing (not an expensive exercise) is not being followed by NHS Trusts in the UK.”
“As a lawyer specialising in claims arising from GBS I see far too many examples of babies who are permanently injured or who die from something which in 2021 really should have been identified and tackled at the earliest opportunity. I sincerely hope that Nadine Dorries’ efforts here bear fruit. The health and lives of 800 babies per year require nothing less.”
Stuart is one of the few solicitors in the UK on the legal panel of the leading charity and pressure group Group B Strep Support.
At Tozers we have unrivalled experience in handling GBS claims, and, in the tragic cases where the baby dies, in representing the bereaved family. As your legal partners we will always keep you at the centre, supporting and guiding you through the process, doing everything we can to achieve the maximum compensation for what you have been through.
