Genomic medicine strategy 2024 to 2029

1. Ministerial Foreword

This is Scotland’s first human genomic medicine strategy. In recognition of the scope for advancing services for people in Scotland, this strategy gives us a platform on which to build the infrastructure necessary for a modern and fit-for-purpose genomic medicine service, agile enough to grasp the opportunities presented by this exciting and rapidly developing discipline.

This strategy is the first step towards developing a world class genomic medicine service which will be based on the principles of person-centred care and focus on providing systems that can improve health outcomes for people in Scotland and better enable us to use genomic information to support disease prevention and early detection.

In recognition of the challenging fiscal position and immense pressure across our services, our initial implementation plan will focus on the foundational and preparatory work needed to ensure that investment and partnership working is targeted to benefit those that need it most and delivers maximum value as part of the ongoing recovery and renewal of our services.

This is one strategy, but it has clear links with many other strategy and policy areas, for example the Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033, the Rare Disease Action Plan, the Public Health Scotland Pathogen Genomic Strategy and the Data Strategy for Health and Social Care to name a few. We also remain committed to working with our counterparts elsewhere in the UK on the shared commitments under ‘Genome UK: The Future of Healthcare’ published in September 2020.

We will be working to make progress on all elements of this strategy. By the end of the five‑year period it covers, our genomic medicine service will have the staff, skills and equipment necessary to support people across Scotland to access to the right treatment and management, by using the right genomic test at the right time.

Neil Gray MSP

Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care