UK Edition
The doctor in charge of innovation within the NHS has spoken of his excitement about the new opportunities offered by the growing availability of DNA screening and big data to improve healthcare.
Later this year England will become the first country to roll out whole genome screening to patients being treated for cancer or rare diseases.
Speaking on the latest episode of the Telegraph's Technology Intelligence Podcast, Professor Tony Young explains that the vast amount of data doctors could now collect about a patient allows them to make crucial decisions about the best way to treat them.
Consultant surgeon Prof Young says interrogating these huge databases of information in the correct way will be key to the NHS providing cost-effective and safe care:
"How can we take those data sets all together that are relevant to an individual and start to predict things? How can you take not just the data about your genome and your medical pathway, but about your environmental exposure, and bring them all together to personalise your journey and start making risk predictions about you."
In the United States this ability for medical experts to use data to get a head start on diseases or conditions which are yet to show symptoms has been labelled 'predictalitics'. Some clinicians have even described it as a 'GPS for healthcare'.
Prof Young says that by combining information about a patient's unique DNA with information such as their height, weight and previous medical history, doctors will be able to make more effective use of medicines and screening techniques.
For example, the data might allow doctors to have a much clearer idea of how likely the patient will be to respond to a certain drug or it may help them understand how regularly a patient needs to return for check-ups.
As part of the NHS's 100,000 Genome Project volunteers are being proactively screened to build up one of the largest DNA databases in the world, which researchers and clinicians will be able to use to fine tune this 'predictalitics' technique.
"We have one of the most advanced setups around ethics and governance around data that has been established. Especially around the 100,000 genome project, [the patients] are in control of their data and who has access to that. Data and privacy of that data is incredibly important, but data sharing is very important too."
Prof Young describes how many patients who see him at his clinic at Southend Hospital may have been referred from Basildon or Chelmsford hospital assume that he has access to their previous scans and test results - but under the current systems this is very often not the case. He argues that improved data sharing within the NHS would be of 'real benefit'.
Ann Blandford, Director of the Institute of Digital Health at University College London, has told the Technology Intelligence podcast that the sudden explosion of technology within healthcare means new roles need to be created to support traditional doctors and nurses:
"There needs to be more digital expertise built in to the NHS. Essentially, pharmacists are chemists specialising in healthcare. We need the same for technology - technologists who have skills in technology - specialising in healthcare."
If you are interested in hearing more about this subject - download and subscribe to the Technology Intelligence podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Also in this week's episode we hear from the founders of Babylon Health, who have developed an app that combines chatbots and video calling to provide an alternative to the traditional GP surgery. We also speak to a young surgeon who has put down his scalpel to develop a new app which is aimed at reducing risk on the operating theatre.