Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to ensure equitable patient access to panel tests through the Genomic Medicine Service.

The first of five key aims for the NHS Genomic Medicine Service is to provide consistent and equitable care for the country’s 55 million population.

A key element of the Genomic Medicine Service is the National Genomic Test Directory which outlines the entire repertoire of genomic tests – from Whole Genomic Sequencing to panel tests, to tests for single genes and molecular markers – that are available as part of the National Health Service clinical service in England.

The Genomic Medicine Service will be supported by an informatics system, that is being developed in partnership with Genomics England. When fully operational the National Genomics Informatics Service will enable NHS England to monitor the number of genomic tests being carried out across the country and benchmark activity.