A Mother’s Mission: Group B Strep Support’s Jane Plumb on prevention and the power of charity collaboration

In episode thirteen of Sepsis Voices, UKST’s Founder & Joint CEO Dr Ron Daniels is joined by Jane Plumb MBE, Founder and CEO of Group B Strep Support, for an episode released during Group B Strep Awareness Month.

Group B Streptococcus is the leading cause of severe infection including meningitis in newborns, and Jane knows this all too well, having tragically lost her son, Theo, to it. Since Theo’s death, Jane has been at the forefront of advocacy and education efforts to combat this usually preventable infection.

Like any infection, left untreated Group B strep can progress to sepsis – therefore it’s vital that our two organisations work together to raise awareness in the hope of ending preventable deaths from these conditions.

The episode covers:

• Jane’s family’s story
• What Group B strep is and how it affects adults and children
• What expectant parents should know about Group B Strep – including managing the infection risk to newborns during pregnancy, labour and the early months after birth
• Group B Strep Support’s e-learning for healthcare professionals
• Group B Strep Support’s campaign for better data collection
• How UKST supported this campaign
• How Group B Strep Support will work with the new Government to enact change
• Opportunities for charity collaboration on infection management
• Incidence – how many people are affected by Group B Strep in the UK each year

You can find out more about Group B Strep Support’s work via their website: https://gbss.org.uk/ 

And as ever, you can learn more about sepsis or get support from UK Sepsis Trust at https://sepsistrust.org/