Neonatal group B Strep infection in Scotland in 2018
Dear NHS National Services Scotland,
Please would you let me know what the rate of group B Strep infection in babies aged 0-6 days (EOGBS) and 7-90 days (LOGBS) was in Scotland for 2018?
Please would you also let me know what plans there are to publish this data routinely, in the same way Public Health England publish data on streptococcal infections in their Health Protection Reports?
Thank you in advance.
Yours faithfully,
Oliver Plumb
Dear Oliver Plumb
Freedom of Information Reference: 2019-000432
I refer to your freedom of information request which we received on 24
October 2019, requesting the following information:
Dear NHS National Services Scotland,
Please would you let me know what the rate of group B Strep infection in
babies aged 0-6 days (EOGBS) and 7-90 days (LOGBS) was in Scotland for
2018?
Please would you also let me know what plans there are to publish this
data routinely, in the same way Public Health England publish data on
streptococcal infections in their Health Protection Reports?
Thank you in advance.
I confirm that under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland)
Act 2002, a response to your information request will be sent within 20
working days of receipt, i.e. no later than 21 November 2019
Kind regards
Heather Driver
FOI Support Administrator
Strategy, Performance and Service Transformation
NHS National Services Scotland
Area 027
Gyle Square
1 South Gyle Crescent
Edinburgh
EH12 9EB
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
NHS National Services Scotland is the common name for the Common Services
Agency for the Scottish Health Service. [1]www.nhsnss.org
X 1 attachment excel document
Dear Mr. Plumb,
Freedom of Information reference: FOI 2019-000432
Thank you for your request to National Services Scotland of 21 October
2019. The questions you have asked are in bold italic text with our
responses after each one.
Please would you let me know what the rate of group B Strep infection in
babies aged 0-6 days (EOGBS) and 7-90 days (LOGBS) was in Scotland for
2018?
Please see the attached document titled FOI-2019-000432, Table 1 and
Figure 1 provide this information in the context of previous years.
Table 1: Number and incidence of confirmed laboratory reports of early
onset and late onset invasive Streptococcal Group B infections by year
(2003 to end Nov 2018 as at 28/11/2018) in those aged up to 90 days
Years 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 Early onset (defined as less than 7 days of age when sample
taken)- number of episodes 1 1 1 1 8 21 26 24 24 24 17 25 19 23 30 22
Early-onset 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.14 0.35 0.44 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.30 0.44
0.34 0.42 0.59 0.43 Late onset (defined as 7-90 days of age when sample
taken)- number of episodes 0 3 1 3 7 20 14 18 19 19 14 19 22 19 29 23
Late-onset 0.00 0.06 0.02 0.05 0.12 0.33 0.24 0.31 0.32 0.33 0.25 0.33
0.40 0.35 0.55 0.45 Number of live births per year (National records
Scotland) 52,432 53,957 54,386 55,690 57,781 60,041 59,046 58,791 58,590
58,027 56,014 56,725 55,098 54,488 52,861 51,308
*The number of births for the year 2018 was extrapolated from the average
birth cohort size from previous 5 years. (Data source: National Records
Scotland -
[1]http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistic...
Please note the following caveats when considering this data:
1. Invasive illness in this situation is defined as any report in which a
sample from a normally sterile site has been taken for clinical diagnosis,
as reported through ECOSS (sample sites considered: blood, CSF, pleural
and ascitic fluid, pleural and joint aspirate). 2. The date the first
sample was taken from an individual has been used as a proxy for date of
onset of illness as detailed information on date of onset of illness is
not available through ECOSS.
Figure 1 is a line graph showing the yearly number of detections of
invasive Group B strep from 2008 to 2018 week 20. The graph shows two
lines, one for early onset disease which occurs in the first week of life
and late onset disease which occurs from the first week of life through to
90 days of life.
Both the table and the figure reveal that there has been a steady increase
in both early onset and late onset GBS since 2013.
Please would you also let me know what plans there are to publish this
data routinely, in the same way Public Health England publish data on
streptococcal infections in their Health Protection Reports?
HPS plan to routinely annually publish this data by early 2020 on their
website
Health Protection Scotland (HPS) plan to routinely annually publish this
data by early 2020 on their website.
I hope the information is able to provide here is helpful to you. If you
have any questions about this email response to you under Freedom iof
Information, please contact me. I can be reached on
[2][email address], or by phone on 0131 275 7867.
Right to Review
If you are unhappy with any aspect of how we have dealt with your request
you can make representations to us asking us to review the handling of
your request. Please write to the
Associate Director of Corporate Affairs and Compliance
NHS National Services Scotland
Headquarters
Gyle Square
1 South Gyle Crescent
Edinburgh
EH12 9EB
By email via [3][email address]
within 40 working days of the date of this correspondence.
If after a review you are still unhappy, you also have the right to apply
to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who can be contacted at Kinburn
Castle, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, or via their [4]online Appeal form.
Sincerely,
Kiri Brown (Ms)
PHI FOI Support Co-ordinator
Statistical and Information Governance Team
Information Services
NHS National Services Scotland
NSS Public Health & Intelligence
Gyle Square I 1 South Gyle Crescent I Edinburgh I EH12 9EB
Telephone: 0131 275 7867 I Email: [5][email address] I
[6]www.isdscotland.org
Public Health and Intelligence includes Health Protection Scotland (HPS)
and the Information Services Division (ISD), and is part of NHS National
Services Scotland
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
NHS National Services Scotland is the common name for the Common Services
Agency for the Scottish Health Service. [7]www.nhsnss.org
[8]cid:image001.png@01D40D5D.8CF6A140
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