In 2018, Matt Hancock, then health secretary, started a project for the NHS to sequence 500,000 patient genomes.
It was aimed that the resulting system, the National Genomic Information System (NGIS), will provide a national framework for patient registration, consent, phenotypic data entry, sample bar code labelling and tracking, and results.
However, reports released by NHS England reveal that the NGIS has suffered many failures, including staff using paper forms to make parts of it work, and that relations between staff from Genomics England and the NHS, who were collaborating on the project, broke down.
'The NHS is the first health system in the world to offer whole-genome sequencing as part of routine clinical care,' a spokesman for NHS England and Genomics England said. 'This report, produced in 2019, does not reflect the significant changes made to the service and technology since then, with both the NHS and Genomics England acting on recommendations and making ongoing changes to the whole genome sequencing service before it launched in 2020… To date, the service has sequenced more than 30,000 whole genomes, helping NHS clinicians to transform the lives of thousands of families, delivering faster and more accurate diagnoses for patients with life-threatening conditions including cancer and rare genetic disorders, and enhancing England's status as a world-leading centre for life sciences.'
To read more, see the investigation by George Greenwood in the Times.
