Biobank Ireland has made very significant progress with the production of a Patient Consent Form (updated), Patient Consent Policy and Sample Access Policy. These have been agreed by the hospital and university members of the new Scientific Advisory Board of Biobank Ireland – E Gaffney, B Mee (SJH), E Kay (Beaumont/RCSI), F Giles, R Flavin (UCH Galway), and L Burke (Cork UH). The documents have also been reviewed and found acceptable by the Data Protection Commissioner, National Cancer Registry Director Dr H Comber, the St James’s Hospital Risk Manager and a medico-legal lawyer. They are about to be circulated to the Ethics Committees of the hospitals.
Coordination and completion of this work has been due to the persistence of Blanaid Mee. The Sample Access Policy is the first to be introduced in Ireland. The three documents are testimony to a willingness to share and collaborate in patient-focused research, and will greatly help consolidate the network.