Health minister Lord Warner has said that genetics will have a "profound" impact on the health service.

The minister was speaking on Monday as he announced which areas have been successful in bidding for a share of £18 million of government funding to upgrade their genetic laboratories.

With genetics promising to revolutionise the way in which healthcare is delivered, ministers are keen to ensure the NHS benefits from any advances in technology.

The laboratories - in London, the South and East, the West Midlands, the East Midlands and South Yorkshire, the North West, and Northern Yorkshire - will use the funding to modernise equipment and develop better ways of working.

"Genetics will have a profound impact on healthcare helping to predict and prevent ill health," Lord Warner said.

"That is why a year ago the government announced an extra £50 million of investment to make sure that the NHS is on a sound footing to reap the benefits of the latest advances in genetics.

"As our understanding of genetics develops, we will be able to test patients for common diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, and thus benefit much larger numbers of patients."

He added that the new funding would "greatly increase the capacity of the NHS to provide access to these new genetic tests and also get results to patients more quickly".