Making good on the promise of genomics in healthcare: the NSW Health perspective

Deb Willcox; Ronald J. A. Trent; Nigel Lyons; Cliff Meldrum; Peter Kennedy; Tamara Lee; Yemima Berman; Bronwyn Burgess; John William Cannings; Martin Joseph Canova; Celia Halliburton; Olivia Hibbitt; Sarah Karen Norris; Antonio Penna; Andrew Perkins; Eva Pilowsky; Shelley Rushton

doi:10.1071/AH23112

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Making good on the promise of genomics in healthcare: the NSW Health perspective

Deb Willcox ^A , Ronald J. A. Trent ^B ^C ^D , Nigel Lyons ^A , Cliff Meldrum ^C , Peter Kennedy ^E , Tamara Lee ^A , Yemima Berman ^D ^F , Bronwyn Burgess ^G , John William Cannings ^H , Martin Joseph Canova ^C , Celia Halliburton ^A , Olivia Hibbitt ^A ^* , Sarah Karen Norris ^D , Antonio Penna ^A , Andrew Perkins ^E , Eva Pilowsky ^A and Shelley Rushton ^I

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A NSW Ministry of Health, Reserve Road, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.

^B Sydney Local Health District Institute of Precision Medicine & Bioinformatics, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Missenden Road, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.

^C NSW Health Pathology, Watt Street, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.

^D University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.

^E eHealth NSW, Sydney, Reserve Road, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.

^F Royal North Shore Hospital, Northern Sydney Local Health District, Reserve Road, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.

^G Hunter Genetics, Hunter New England Local Health District, Turton Road, Waratah, NSW, Australia.

^H Independent Consumer Representative.

^I Cancer Institute NSW, Reserve Road, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: Olivia.hibbitt@health.nsw.gov.au

Australian Health Review 47(6) 631-633 https://doi.org/10.1071/AH23112

Submitted: 13 June 2023 Accepted: 19 September 2023 Published: 17 October 2023

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of AHHA. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

NSW Health is implementing genomics as a mainstream component of clinical care. The strategic, holistic approach is considering infrastructure, data governance and management, workforce, education, service planning and delivery. This work is generating insights about how to realise the promise of genomics in healthcare, highlighting the need for strong foundations, real-world application, accessibility and a focus on people using genomic information in clinical care.

Keywords: clinical pathway, education, framework, genetics, genomics, implementation, infrastructure, NSW, omics, pathology, policy, precision medicine, translation, workforce.

References

1 NSW Ministry of Health. Translating Genomics Research into Clinical Practice; A NSW Health framework for researchers and clinicians. Sydney: NSW Government; 2022.

2 National Human Genome Research Institute. Precision Medicine. 2023. Available at https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Precision-Medicine [accessed 31 January 2023].

3 Finkel A, Wright A, Pineda S, Williamson R. Precision Medicine. Office of the Chief Scientist Occasional Paper. October. 2018. Available at https://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/sites/default/files/Precision-medicine-final.pdf [accessed 31 January 2023].

4 NSW Ministry of Health. NSW Health Genomics Strategy. Sydney: NSW Government; 2017.

5 Lin FP, Thavaneswaran S, Grady JP, Ballinger M, Kansara M, Oakes SR, Desai J, Lee CK, et al. Criteria-based curation of a therapy-focused compendium to support treatment recommendations in precision oncology. npj Precis Onc 2021; 5(1): 58.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

6 Mattick JS, Dziadek MA, Terrill BN, Kaplan W, Spigelman AD, Bowling FG, Dinger ME. The impact of genomics on the future of medicine and health. Med J Aust 2014; 201(1): 17-20.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

7 NSW Ministry of Health. NSW Health Genomics Strategy Implementation Plan 2018–20. Sydney: NSW Government; 2018.

8 NSW Ministry of Health. NSW Health Genomics Strategy Implementation Plan 2021–25. Sydney: NSW Government; 2021.

9 NSW Government. Centre for Genetics Education. 2022. Available at https://www.genetics.edu.au/SitePages/Home.aspx [accessed 31 January 2023].

10 Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council. National Health Genomics Policy Framework 2018–2021. Canberra: Commonwealth Department of Health; 2017

11 Burgess B, Worgan L. Harnessing the potential of genomics in precision medicine. Clinician Connect 30 August 2022. Agency for Clinical Innovation. 2022. Available at https://aci.health.nsw.gov.au/about/clinician-connect/editorial/2022/genomics-and-precision-medicine [accessed 31 January 2023].

12 Horton R, Lucassen A. Genomic testing in healthcare: a hybrid space where clinical practice and research need to co-exist. Expert Rev Mol Diagn 2019; 19(11): 963-967.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

13 HM Government. Genome UK: The future of healthcare. Crown copyright Open Goverment Licence; 2020.