Timeline
The GBS3 trial will end on 31st March 2024. NHS Trusts and Boards who are offering GBS testing will revert to the current recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and NICE, which are not routinely offering testing. NHS Trusts and Boards are unlikely to continue to offer testing until the final results of the GBS3 trial are available and the UK National Screening Committee reconsiders its recommendations.
If you are due to give birth at a participating maternity unit after this date, please read the GBSS information leaflet to understand more about GBS.
If you were known to be carrying GBS in a previous pregnancy, or had a baby which had an infection in their first few days of life, you can ask your midwife for an ECM test. Women and parents in these two situations should be offered a test.
We expect the results of the GBS3 trial to be available in 2025. GBS3 will require a lot of careful analysis of the outcomes of all babies born in participating hospitals. We wish the results could come sooner but this is a big study.