Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with Public Health England to raise awareness of group B Strep; and how that work will feature in his Department's sepsis awareness campaign.

Public Health England (PHE) ran a sepsis campaign in partnership with the UK Sepsis Trust and the Department from December 2016 to April 2017 targeting parents of young children. The campaign raised awareness of the signs and symptoms of sepsis and when to seek urgent medical help. The campaign did not focus on the many specific causes of sepsis, such as group B Strep.

Guidance on early onset neonatal group B Strep and other neonatal disease is provided by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, available at:

https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-research-services/guidelines/gtg36/

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance is available at:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg149/chapter/4-research-recommendations