diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b620d4c2a1..81a1a07cb4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ About changelog [here](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/)
 - Handle `no intervals found` warning in load_region test
 - Beacon remove variants
 - Protect remote_cors function in alignviewers view from Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
+- Check creation date of last document in gene collection to display when genes collection was updated last
 
 ## [4.51]
 ### Added
diff --git a/scout/server/blueprints/genes/controllers.py b/scout/server/blueprints/genes/controllers.py
index a64f7d5d42..fd52d13ac0 100644
--- a/scout/server/blueprints/genes/controllers.py
+++ b/scout/server/blueprints/genes/controllers.py
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ def genes(store, query):
     nr_genes_37 = store.nr_genes(build="37")
     nr_genes_38 = store.nr_genes(build="38")
     genes_subset = list(store.all_genes(add_transcripts=False, limit=20))
-    last_updated = document_generated(genes_subset[0]["_id"] if genes_subset else None)
+    last_inserted_gene = store.hgnc_collection.find({}).sort("_id", -1).limit(1)
+    last_updated = document_generated(last_inserted_gene[0]["_id"] if last_inserted_gene else None)
     return dict(genes=genes_subset, last_updated=last_updated, nr_genes=(nr_genes_37, nr_genes_38))