The UK Government, Welsh and Scottish Governments, and Northern Ireland Assembly have announced a series of shared commitments for UK-wide implementation of genomic healthcare.
The commitments define shared priorities for NHS patients including cancer diagnosis and access to clinical trials, as well as strengthening the UK's role as a global leader in genomics and genetics. The publication builds on the 2020 Genome UK: the future of healthcare strategy, which outlined the ten-year vision to transform genomic healthcare to improve patient outcomes in the UK (see BioNews 1066), highlighting implementation priorities for 2022 to 2025.
Health minister Sajid Javid said: 'By coming together and agreeing these new shared commitments, we will ensure patients across all four nations of the UK can benefit from these pioneering advancements and cement our place as a world leader in research and genomics'.
This new publication features 43 shared commitments aimed at making sure that patients in all areas of the UK benefit from advances in genomic medicine. The commitments are organised into the three pillars introduced in the Genome UK strategy: diagnosis and personalised medicine, prevention and early detection, and research. They overlap the five cross-cutting themes of ethics and maintaining trust, creating a regulatory framework and standards to safeguard genomic data of patients, engagement and dialogue with patients and the public, data, workforce development, industry.
The document has been welcomed by representatives of industry and of patients. Jennifer Harris from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said, 'Genomics is already transforming lives, helping our scientists create new generations of treatments for many conditions... We look forward to further collaboration between the government, the pharmaceutical industry and the research sector to harness the UK's world-class genomics capability'.
Nick Meade from Genetic Alliance UK, a charity supporting people with genetic, rare and undiagnosed conditions, said: 'We wholeheartedly support more coordinated implementation action to progress the vision of Genome UK. We hope that collaboration between devolved administrations will realise the potential of genomic healthcare for the benefit of patients across the UK'.
Detailed plans for the implementation of this strategy from each country are expected to be released by the end of 2022.
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