DAUK\u2019s GP committee says it is \u2018sceptical\u2019 about plans for newborn babies in England to be DNA tested to screen for diseases.\r\n\r\nDr Steve Taylor, DAUK GP spokesperson, told national radio listeners it \u2018could open a can of worms\u2019.\r\n\r\nSpeaking on LBC, Dr Taylor said: \u201cOur DNA is only part of our story.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere are other factors that play out in our lives that make a difference to the way things turn out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can die, potentially, at 10 with a \u2018perfect DNA\u2019 or you could live well into your old age without.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere are conditions where clearly knowledge is useful, but I am concerned about this concept of all babies being tested rather than an opt-in, targeted approach, which isn\u2019t available at the moment anyway.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t got a targeted approach for those conditions with family history. That would make a massive difference.\u201d\r\n\r\nDr Taylor said consent was also an issue.\r\n\r\n\u201cKnowing things about your life going forward is helpful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut if you\u2019ve been given a potential diagnosis of something that will kill you by the time you\u2019re 20, do you want to know that so early?\u201d\r\n\r\nHe added: \u201cThere\u2019s the area around paternity and grandpaternity.\r\n\r\n\u201cYou might suddenly find you\u2019re not part of the family you thought you were.\u201d\r\n\r\nDr Taylor was commenting on a report in the Telegraph<\/a> that within the next decade, every newborn baby will undergo whole genome sequencing.\r\n\r\nHealth secretary Wes Streeting said it would move the NHS \u2018from a service which diagnoses and treats ill health, to one that predicts and prevents it\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Taylor said such a move would add to already increasing health anxiety.\r\n\r\n\u201cDealing with patients worrying about the future is one of the biggest things I deal with,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\n\u201cPatient anxiety, with increasing knowledge and data, is a huge problem.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s bad enough with smart watches, and things, let alone having a DNA profile.\u201d\r\n\r\nDr Sarah Jacques, DAUK GP committee member, posted her reaction on the social media platform X<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said: \u201cWhile there is a small cohort who will benefit from early diagnosis of rare genetic conditions where interventions are available.\r\n\r\n\u201cThere will be many who will feel they’ve been handed a death sentence when there is no clear course of action for them.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe benefits are nuanced.\u201d\r\n\r\nFellow GP committee member, Dr Alison George, also posted on X<\/a>.\r\n\r\nDr George said there were \u2018significant issues surrounding consent\u2019.\r\n\r\nShe said patients would rather money was invested in \u2018a properly functioning health service\u2019.\r\n\r\nThey would rather see a GP promptly, have A&E waiting times of one to two hours, and that doctors were not replaced by physician associates.\r\n\r\nSupport our work by becoming a member<\/a> or donating to our Go Fund Me<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DAUK\u2019s GP committee says it is \u2018sceptical\u2019 about plans for newborn babies in England to be DNA tested to screen for diseases. Dr Steve Taylor,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1534,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,59,58],"tags":[690,656,22,304],"class_list":["post-1397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dauk-news","category-general-practice","category-the-nhs","tag-dr-alison-george","tag-dr-sarah-jacques","tag-dr-steve-taylor","tag-gp-committee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Health anxiety<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Genetic conditions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Picture credit: Omar Lopez<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"