Hospitals ‘not testing for risky bacteria’

NEARLY 90 per cent of hospitals across the UK are not using the recommended £11 test to detect whether pregnant women are carrying a potentially-deadly bacteria, new data has revealed.

Failure to follow the national guidelines to prevent Group B Strep (GBS) infections is causing a “postcode lottery” of care and opportunities, the Group B Strep Support charity said.

A freedom of information investigation by the charity found just 13 per cent of NHS trusts and boards in the UK used the GBSspecific enriched culture medium (ECM) when testing women late in pregnancy, in line with guidelines from Public Health England and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG).

The test, which detects if the woman is a carrier of the bacteria, costs around £11 and significantly decreases false-negative results. The trusts and boards that did not use this method instead used direct culture, out of step with national guidance.

No health boards in Wales or trusts in Northern Ireland reported using ECM methodology for testing while 15 per cent of trusts in England and seven per cent of regional NHS boards in England carried out this form of testing.

Jane Plumb MBE, Group B Strep Support chief executive, said: “There’s no point in expert bodies like the RCOG producing clinical best practice guidelines if they’re not being adopted on the front line. Our research has found many trusts and boards are not giving pregnant women information on GBS, denying them an informed choice about their care.

“Equally worryingly, a majority are using the wrong test to look for GBS carriage, potentially leaving them vulnerable to expensive legal challenge if things go wrong.”