Cancer charities provide GP guidelines on breast cancer genetics
The Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research fund (soon to merge) are to provide an information pack for GPs to help them make more appropriate referral decisions about women...
View ArticleNational Institute for Clinical Excellence invites expressions of stakeholder...
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence has commissioned the National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care to develop guidelines for the classification and care of women at risk of familial...
View ArticleGenetics commissioning guidance for Primary Care Trusts
The reorganisation of the NHS following the policy outlined in Shifting the Balance of Power places the main responsibility for commissioning health services on the new primary care trusts (PCTs)....
View ArticleDepartment of Health announces review into commissioning of specialised services
Within the National Health Service in England, the principles of the part of the NHS Plan known as Shifting the Balance of Power (StBOP) have resulted in the establishment of Primary Care Trusts...
View ArticleCommissioning of specialised services: views on the shape of things post-StBOP
In April 2002 the changes introduced by the policy initiative Shifting the Balance of Power (StBOP) established the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) as the bodies primarily responsible for commissioning...
View ArticleStart-up funding available for GPs with a special interest in genetics
The Department of Health (DH) has announced that funding is now available to support ten general practitioners who have a special interest in genetics in primary care. The need for genetics expertise...
View ArticleConcerns raised over the falsifying of family histories
The BBC has reported that geneticists in Manchester are concerned that women are claiming a false family history of breast cancer in order to get treatment (see BBC news story). Treatment can include...
View ArticleKnowledge of family health history is poor
88% of GPs surveyed on behalf of the insurance company Norwich Union Healthcare said patients should know more about hereditary conditions; even when patients did provide basic family histories, less...
View ArticleReport explores aspects of role reversal in the doctor-patient relationship
Researchers at the University of Sheffield School of Health and Related Research and the Genetic Interest Group have released a report of a project investigating the doctor-patient relationship....
View ArticlePrimary Care Genetics Society launched
A new society devoted to the implications of genetics for primary care practice has been launched in the UK. The Primary Care Genetics Society (PCGS) aims “to support and facilitate the...
View ArticleNew genetics guide for Australian health professionals
A new guide on genetic conditions for primary care clinicians in Australia has been launched. Genetics in Family Medicine: The Australian Handbook for General Practitioners was reportedly developed in...
View ArticleDNA sequencing used to determine child's treatment
Further tests based on the diagnosis indicated that the boy had a high probability of death if untreated, and this led to the decision to perform the transplant. The child’s parents were...
View ArticleMedical data explosion requires urgent system changes
A new report - Towards Precision Medicine - published by the National Research Council earlier this month highlights the need for new systems to incorporate the...
View ArticleNew guidelines to expand eligibility for free fertility treatment
New draft guidelines for fertility treatment on the NHS have been released by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). The new guidance, currently open for consultation,...
View ArticleThe question of whole genome sequencing in clinical care
Two policy forum articles published in Science examine the issues around introducing whole genome sequencing (WGS) into routine clinical care. In The Ultimate Genetic Test author Radoje Drmanac...
View ArticleA step towards practical clinical genome sequencing
Work published in Nature describes a genome sequencing technique with potential to bring routine sequencing in clinical care a step closer. The technique, known as long fragment read (LFR) technology,...
View ArticleDo patients have a right to access their clinical sequence data?
The gathering pace of genomic advances and their increasing affordability has focused attention to what the implications might be, once these technologies reach the clinic. One relatively unexplored...
View ArticleReport lists specialist services for national commissioning
The Clinical Advisory Group for Prescribed Services (CAG) last week published its report recommending which specialised services for rare conditions should be commissioned at a national level....
View ArticleRare diseases neglected by GPs and policy makers
A new report suggests that doctors and policy makers both tend to overlook rare diseases. The report by think tank 2020Health - Forgotten Conditions: misdiagnosed and unsupported, how patients are...
View ArticleNHS Mandate published
The first ever Mandate between the Government and the NHS Commissioning Board was published yesterday, setting out what the key objectives of the NHS will be between now and March 2015. The Mandate...
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