The Glasgow-Blatchford bleeding score (GBS) is a screening tool to assess the likelihood that a person with an acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) will need to have medical intervention such as a blood transfusion or endoscopic intervention.
Advantages of the GBS over the Rockall score, which assesses the risk of death in UGIB, include a lack of subjective variables such as the severity of systemic diseases and the lack of a need for oesophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD) to complete the score, a feature unique to the GBS.
It was developed in 2000 by Oliver Blatchford (born 24 August 1954) at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.
In a controlled study, 16% of people presenting with UGIB had a GBS score of "0", considered low.
Among this group there were no deaths or interventions needed and people were able to be effectively treated in an outpatient setting.