Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to genetic testing for Familial Hypercholesterolaemia in (a) the UK and (b) Leicestershire.

The NHS Genomic Medicine Service was launched in 2018 to provide consistent and genomically informed care and treatment for patients in the National Health Service in England. This is delivered via seven NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs (GLHs), covering the entire geography of England, who operate as part of a national network to deliver the genomic testing as outlined in the National Genomic Test Directory. The East Genomic Laboratory Hub provides and coordinates a wide range of genomic tests for the Leicestershire area. Genomic testing for Familial Hypercholesterolaemia is currently offered through the Test Directory, the testing code for this clinical indication is labelled as R134.

NHS England has data collection and monitoring systems in place across all seven NHS GLHs to support service improvements and meet with each region on a quarterly basis to monitor performance.