The House of Lords Science and Technology
Committee has today
launched a new inquiry into innovation in the NHS, with a
particular focus on personalised medicine and the use
of artificial intelligence.
Personalised medicines refer to
tailoring medical treatment to the individual characteristics of
each patient such as using genetic information
to provide personalised preventative advice, diagnosis,
and therapies. Recent advances in genomics, AI-driven data
analytics and biotechnology are driving this evolution, enabling
new therapies like CAR (Chimeric Antigen Receptor) T-cell
therapy, offer life-saving potential, but the need to tailor
them to the individual can make them expensive to
deploy.
There are
broad Government ambitions to use AI more widely to
advance medical science; but translating the cutting edge of medical
science into routine patient delivery in the
NHS remains a
challenge.
CBE, Chair of the Committee
said:
“Advances in AI and genomics are creating
the prospect of truly personalised medicine
across prevention, diagnosis and
treatment. Our
inquiry will use personalised medicine as a case study to
explore a broader question: why does the
NHS struggle to adopt the
UK's cutting-edge life sciences innovations, and what
could be done to fix that?
“As the NHS plans to harness
new developments in genomics, AI, and personalised medicine, our
inquiry will seek to establish the state of
the science and technology in this area and understand where
patients might benefit from near-term
developments.
“We will
examine the gap between early-stage research,
clinical trials and NHS-wide delivery, looking at
blockages in the
system slowing progress, including procurement processes,
clinical pathways, and the role of regulators
and professional
bodies.
“We will also examine how the fragmentation of
the overall NHS structure contributes to uneven
deployment of innovation, how the costs of personalised
treatments can be reduced, and the clinical
academics and clinical trials infrastructure needed to
rapidly deploy innovations within the
NHS.”
The Committee invites written contributions to its
inquiry by 23.59 on Monday 20
April 2026.
The Committee will hold the
first public evidence session of
its new inquiry on
Tuesday 10 March.
The Committee will hear from academics
working in the field of personalized
and genomic medicine, including Professor Sir
Mark Caulfield, who led the 100,000 Genomes
Project.
From 10:15am it will hear
from:
-
Professor Sir Mark Caulfield
From 11:15 it will hear
from:
The evidence session will take
place in Committee Room 1, Palace of Westminster and will be
available to watch live from 10.15 or on demand
on Parliamentlive.tv.
