On this day of celebrating the role and significance of mothers across the country, it is with a great deal of sadness and frustration that I report to you that a great opportunity to address the horrors of Group B Strep in newborn babies has been recklessly wasted. The NHS England Maternity Review, which I mentioned in an earlier update and to which I contributed along with many others who have been similarly affected, has been now been published and it completely ignores Group B Strep. This makes no sense; analysis of the responses has been published and 16% of comments on the question “Care during pregnancy (Complications) – Quality of care” related to GBS testing and the wish for this to be available to all, while 7% of comments on the question “What could have been done differently during pregnancy (Antenatal Care) – Quality of care” related to more GBS testing. It is clear that the issue of group B Strep is being raised (and thanks to all those who did so) so why is it being ignored? We must keep up the pressure to provide every pregnant mother with full and accurate information about the risks of group B Strep and to make the most effective ECM test available to every pregnant mother in the UK. On a more encouraging note, positive steps are being taken by individuals. Following our meeting with him, my MP, Matthew Pennycook, raised a question at the Backbench Business Committee of the House of Commons calling for an urgent debate about what can be done to ensure consistent and accurate screening for group B Strep so as to prevent any more avoidable deaths of newborn babies. Unfortunately the response from the Leader of the House was to use the question to focus his attention on another health matter (admittedly important, but not what he was being asked about). We just have to keep fighting the inertia that surrounds changing things in relation to group B Strep: keep sharing this petition; keep writing to our MPs; and keep encouraging others to take what action they can to make people with the power to change our system for the better and make this Mother’s Day the last one where the prevention of group B Strep in the UK is left to luck and guesswork. Thank you for your continued support and lots of love and good wishes for Mother’s Day – especially to those who are missing someone special today. Fiona