Genomics education empowers NHS Wales workforce to deliver personalised patient care
Published 10 November 2025
Ahead of Genomics Literacy Week (17-21 November 2025), Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) is pleased to announce significant progress in the delivery of the Strategic Workforce Plan for Genomics.
Launched in partnership with Genomics Partnership Wales in November 2024, the three-year plan is already helping to equip healthcare professionals across Wales with the skills they need to integrate genomics into every day clinical practice to benefit patient care.
Over the last year, expansion of the genomic education offer for healthcare professionals in Wales has been pivotal in driving the progress of the Strategic Workforce Plan to date.
The plan aims to build a skilled, confident and capable workforce with sufficient ‘genomic literacy’ to develop and deliver targeted approaches to improve diagnostics, prevention and treatment outcomes for patients.
In April 2025, a Wales-first ‘Genomics Learning Hub’ was established on HEIW’s online education portal for health and care staff in Wales, Y Ty Dysgu - which recently celebrated reaching over 32,000 users.
The learning hub provides access to a range of free learning materials and courses covering clinical decision-making, ethics, genomic test eligibility and results interpretation - all designed to reduce the burden on clinical staff and empower the wider workforce to confidently deliver genomic informed patient care.
Over 12,000 individuals have viewed the ‘Introduction to Genomic Healthcare’ e-learning six-part course on Y Ty Dysgu since launch, with over 900 completions to date across varied areas of clinical practice. These include pharmacy, nursing, dietetics, psychology, dentistry, mental health amongst many others.
Healthcare professionals can also access fully funded MsC level modules in genomics at Cardiff or Bangor Universities.
To support the future workforce, HEIW is working with universities across Wales to fully embed genomics into undergraduate and postgraduate circular. This will ensure that the next generation of healthcare professionals enter the workforce fully equipped with the knowledge to apply genomics in patient care.
In addition, a new self-assessment tool has been designed to help healthcare professionals identify their current level of genomic capability. Due to launch next year, the Genomic Capability Framework will further support the mainstreaming of genomics across the NHS workforce and provide tailored learning pathways aligned to specific professional roles and clinical specialties.
Genomics Literacy Week – coming soon
From Monday 17 to Friday 21 November, HEIW is hosting a number of expert-led webinars during Genomics Literacy Week 2025 to help increase understanding among health care professionals of genomics in clinical practice and its ability to enhance patient outcomes.
Each session will explore how genomics can support a different priority area in NHS Wales, including: women’s health, diabetes, stroke and mental health.
Visit the Genomics Literacy Week webpage for more information.