WGS at Birth: Workforce Implications for Healthcare Professionals and Beyond

A free-to-attend online event about whole genome sequencing at birth, asking about implications for healthcare professionals if this becomes offered routinely.

This event is produced by the Progress Educational Trust (PET), in partnership with Genomics England and its Newborn Genomes Programme.

The event will be chaired by Sarah Norcross, with speakers including Sarah-Jane Marsh, Professor Eamonn Sheridan, Professor Pali Hungin, Dr Michelle Bishop and Professor Angus Clarke.

Genomics England's Newborn Genomes Programme will explore – in an ethics-approved research pilot, due to be embedded in the NHS – whether and how whole genome sequencing might, in future, be offered routinely for newborn babies in the UK.

The Newborn Genomes Programme builds on other work, such as the creation of the NHS Genomic Medicine Service, that has already increased the prominence of genomics in healthcare. If whole genome sequencing were offered routinely for newborns, then this would further extend the use of genomics in mainstream health contexts.

At this event, experts and advocates will address questions including:

• What would routinely sequencing the whole genomes of newborns entail for healthcare professionals, both inside and outside the fields of genetics and genomics?
• What arrangements would need to be made, and what training and information would need to be in place, in order for routine whole genome sequencing to be achievable?
• How can whole genome sequencing best be integrated with other aspects of postnatal care? How will it relate to the established NHS newborn blood spot screening programme?
• What can be learned from people's experiences to date, of embedding genomics in the UK health system? What have been the successes? What have been the difficulties?
• What can be done to help bring the healthcare workforce on board?

If discussing this event on social media, please use the hashtag #GenomicsConversation

If you are a journalist and are interested in reporting on this event, please email [email protected] with any queries.