Streptococcus: Screening
(asked on 15th July 2015) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the charity Group B Strep Support will be involved in the pre-consultation stage of the UK National Screening Committee's review; when he plans to start public consultation on the review; and when he expects to make a decision on the review.
No representations have been made to Ministers, this parliamentary session, regarding meeting stakeholders to discuss Group B Streptococcus (GBS).
Information on GBS in pregnancy is publically available on the NHS Choices website at:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/pregnancy-infections.aspx
Public Health England (PHE) established enhanced surveillance of infant GBS disease in April 2014, in partnership with St George’s Hospital, the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit and national public health bodies across the United Kingdom and Ireland, in order to assess disease incidence, associated mortality and frequency of established risk factors. Several candidate GBS vaccines are in development and PHE will continue to monitor these. The National Institute for Health Research has recently approved funding for a study on accuracy of a rapid intrapartum test for maternal group B streptococcal colonisation and its potential to reduce antibiotic usage in mothers with risk factors (GBS2). The study is expected to begin this summer.
UK standards for microbiology investigations B58: Detection of carriage of Group B Streptococci, which was updated in June 2015, is publically available on the gov.uk website at:
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has produced a Green-top guideline: Prevention of Early-Onset Neonatal Group B Streptococcal Disease. The Green-top guideline provides guidance for obstetricians, midwives and neonatologists on the prevention of early-onset neonatal GBS disease. The first edition was published in 2003 and the second updated edition was published in 2012. A UK audit in partnership with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and supported by the Royal College of Midwives was recently carried out by the RCOG. It examined current practice in preventing early-onset neonatal GBS disease by investigating the implementation of the RCOG Green-top guideline (2012 edition) and identified key areas for improvement. The first report was published on 5 March 2015 and found that the majority of obstetric units in the UK have written protocols to prevent early-onset GBS disease in newborn babies. However, there is still variation in practice across units. The second report is due to be published later this year. Further information is available at:
The Northern Ireland Executive and Welsh Government are responsible for healthcare in Northern Ireland and Wales, therefore no further information on GBS prevention strategies in these countries is held centrally.
The UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) review of antenatal screening for GBS carriage is due to begin in August 2015. The UK NSC will consider whether its review of the evidence should be undertaken as a systematic review to PRISMA standards or whether a rapid review should be carried out. The timescale for the review process will be available once the UK NSC has made a decision on whether a systematic or rapid review should take place. The review process will include a three month public consultation period which the charity, Group B Strep Support and other interested stakeholder groups and individuals will be able to input into. The UK NSC may take clinical advice from a range of specialists and experts as part of the review process. This may include advice from individuals and groups that were involved in the development of the current guidelines as well as those who were not. This is supported by a public consultation process, which ensures that the review and recommendations of the committee are open and transparent.