The government last week (July 3) revealed that it will create a “new genomics population health service” that will be “accessible to all by the end of the decade” as part of its new 10-year health plan.
“Studies run in community settings such as pharmacies” will “help shape” the development of this service, it said.
And from this year, a “new large-scale study” of 150,000 adults will “assess how genomics can be used in preventative care”, with further studies exploring the “personalised prevention of obesity” among other things, it added.
Read more: IN FULL: Pharmacy to ‘transition’ from dispensing to clinical services by 2030
“This new service will combine the power of genomics, new diagnostics and predictive analytics with artificial intelligence (AI)...[to] proactively maintain wellness, identifying and mitigating disease risks years – even decades – before symptoms arise,” the government said.
It added that “genomic insights” will first be integrated into cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention and care from 2026 and “subject to evaluation” will then be rolled out more widely to other conditions such as diabetes and dementia.
How will it work?
The Department of Health and Social Care’s (DH) 10-year plan sets out that the genomics population health service will, among other things:
- “Implement universal newborn genomic testing” to enable “early identification and intervention” for patients at “high risk” of developing common diseases
- Be integrated with the “single patient record” to “optimise medication effectiveness” and “prevent adverse drug reactions”
And it states that the government will “work with clinical experts to integrate genomic testing for pharmacogenomic profiles into the NHS over-40s health check” from next year.
Read more: DH to launch pharmacist-staffed ‘neighbourhood health services’
Once the genomics service is developed, “patients will be able to view a complete account of their risk of major conditions...through the NHS App, with the neighbourhood health service providing bespoke support to help individuals manage these risks”, the plan said.
The app will then “use this information to deliver personalised health coaching, recommend healthier choices and provide reminders and alerts to participate in risk-stratified screening and other diagnostic tests”, it added.
It comes as the plan revealed that an AI NHS App upgrade will direct patients to pharmacies for care by 2028.
Read more: Pharmacy bodies react to Streeting’s 10-year plan
The plan also set out that community pharmacies will “transition” from a focus on dispensing to “offering more clinical services” over the next five years.
It said that over the “first half” of the 10-year plan, the government will “modernise” its “approach to the dispensing of medicines and make better use of technology” by introducing “dispensing robots” in pharmacies.
Read more: NHS App AI tool to direct patients to pharmacies by 2028
It revealed that pharmacies will be given a “bigger role in prevention by expanding their role in vaccine delivery” – with pharmacies to deliver human papillomavirus (HPV) catch-up jabs from next year.
And it added that “innovative” weight loss services could be rolled out in pharmacies, including “digital only” models where “everything” is managed online.
Check the C+D site for the latest on this developing story
