HSE to establish two perinatal genetics testing hubs next year

The HSE's chief clinical officer, Colm Henry, said his thinking around genetics developed while working at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork. File picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

A new perinatal genetics testing service will roll out next year as part of an improved approach to genomic medicines, with Cork being considered as one of two bases.

The HSE's chief clinical officer Colm Henry has revealed details of the new service following the recent launch of a national strategy for 'Accelerating Genetic and Genomic Medicine'.

Foetal medicine within genetics treatments includes diagnosis of foetal anomalies and assessment of foetal conditions such as genetic and growth disorders.

By informing patients before birth, they can make decisions about which hospital to give birth at, how to give birth, or in tragic cases, time to prepare for palliative care. New parents around the country will get “equal access to testing and to specialist advice,” Dr Henry said.

The strategy gives a "clear sense of direction" to give patients a "sense they are being listened to, and their experiences being heeded”.  Treatment will run through two hubs linking to clinics, GPs, and hospitals regionally. 

“We’re setting up a perinatal service, based on a hub model,” he told the Irish Examiner. “That involves two perinatal geneticists, involves them linking through with the 19 maternity units so we can establish a common pathway of access to testing, with common access to advice or specialist perinatal genetics services.

"We have funding to proceed with this in 2023 for two new consultant posts.” 

This is being developed with the National Women and Infants Health Programme.

“We are scoping out the locations at the moment, we are looking at a base in Dublin at the least because if you look at the four biggest maternity units in the country, three of them are in Dublin,” he said. 

Then Cork has a large unit too, so at least one of those posts will be in Dublin.

Dr Henry said his thinking around genetics developed while working at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork. “For me, I was really influenced by clinicians I worked with in the Mercy originally, they brought home to me the absolutely incredible potential of genomic medicine,” he said.

“How people’s individual gene make-up can actually influence and tailor their treatment in ways we never imagined when I was a younger doctor.”

He said understanding of how this benefits patients is growing all the time. “This strategy is really timely, and hopefully it will allow us, working with the department, to invest in the right way, to invest in people and to get a workforce that is really enthusiastic and engaged,” he said.

The Department of Health has granted initial funding of €2.7m for next year, and Dr Henry said recruitment is the first priority. “We have funding upfront in 2023 to recruit genetic counsellors, five of them,” he said.

“Also there are genetic coordinator roles, two of which we will be funding, in addition to two consultant geneticists. We are under-resourced, we’ve been reliant on a small number of very committed consultants who are based in Crumlin and we need to expand their workforce too.”