A report from the Foundation for Genomics and Population Health has stated that the NHS needs to “urgently” develop the tools and expertise needed to take advantage of a revolution in genetic testing.
The report argues that new technologies could soon dramatically change the climate of care for patients suffering from cancer and other rare conditions, with the ultimate goal of one day tailoring treatments to an individual patient’s needs. The government is reported to be currently evaluating the benefits of the strategy.
The cost of sequencing the human genetic code has fallen dramatically in recent years which is thought to have important consequences for medicine in enhancing the ability to diagnose patients. Around 3% of the population have defects in their genetic code which cause rare forms of illnesses such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease or some rare forms of cancer. It is also believed that the use of genetics could help to predict which drugs are more likely to be effective or cause the fewest and least severe side effects.
Dr Caroline Wright, the lead author of the report, stated that the “genetic revolution” will come fairly quickly, and first start to be implemented in patients with rare disorders. This will then move into diagnosis for childhood developmental disorders or any undiagnosed rare conditions which are suspected to be genetic.
With the advances in sequencing a patient’s genetic code, Dr Wright warns that the NHS should start to consider a way of implementing a system to deal with the vast amounts of information that will be produced. She states that the NHS desperately needs to build the IT support to interpret billions of letters of code.
Sir John Bell, the government’s Chief Genetics Advisor says that genetics will come to effect every single area of medicine. “For some it will have a very major effect, for others it will be less dominant, but the contribution of genetics to all human disease is clear” he asserted. He says a set of specialist hubs need to be set up to handle the information, but that there also a required “restructuring of the whole operation” to bring genetics to specialists in cancer, heart disease, diabetes and public health.
A Department of Health spokesperson said that they will continue to work closely with the research community and the research arm of NHS to look at the feasibility of specific programmes and new developments. “We have asked the Human Genomic Strategy group to look at advances in this area and to evaluate their benefit to the NHS. Their report is due in January 2012” they said.
Original Source BBC News
About Pathway Software
Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.
Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.
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