Personalising healthcare: ethical issues
Introduction
Recent technological developments, political and economic priorities and the drive towards patient-centred care have accelerated the pace of personalisation of healthcare services. Such technologies include whole body CT or MRI scans, ‘personal genomics’ where the genome of individual patients is sequenced, and ‘telemedicine’ – the delivery of healthcare services over a distance.
The increasing use of these technologies raises a number of ethical issues. For example, how useful is the information provided by personal genomics services to the individual? Will it affect their lifestyles, and how might it affect their insurance policies? Might it increase the burden on the NHS as people seek follow-up?
The Council set up a Working Party in October 2008 to examine these and other issues further. The Working Party is chaired by Christopher Hood, Professor of Government at the University of Oxford and Director of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Public Services Research Programme. A report with recommendations for policy and practice will be published in early 2010.
Last Updated Mon, 27 October 2008