| Donation of tissue
and blood to the Wales Cancer Bank (WCB) is a gift and
we are very grateful to all patients who consent to donate.
Consenting to donate, or refusing to donate, samples to
WCB will not affect routine care in any way and all patient
details remain confidential. When researchers are provided
with samples for their projects, the samples only have
a WCB number on them so no-one can be identified by their
samples.
Patients who consent to donate samples and subsequently
change their mind can withdraw consent at any time by
contacting either the nurse who originally consented
them or the central WCB
office in Cardiff . WCB will withdraw all samples
still in storage and will return them to the pathology
department in the hospital from which they originated
for disposal. If consent is withdrawn after more than
six months some of the samples may have already been
issued to researchers. WCB cannot recall tissue from
researchers but will request the return of the tissue
at the end of the research project for disposal. If
a patient expresses specific wishes regarding the disposal
of their samples WCB will endeavour to accommodate those
wishes wherever practicable in association with the
local NHS Trust responsible for the patient’s
diagnosis and operative care. If a patient expresses
a wish to dispose of their sample personally, the samples
will be returned to the local histopathology department
in the hospital in which the patient was operated. Material
will be returned according to the locally agreed hospital
policy.
| WCB welcomes feedback from patients
(positive and negative!) and encourages patients
to either speak directly to the nurse consenting
them or if they prefer to contact the central office
directly. Any complaints regarding personnel involved
in WCB activity should be directed to the central
office in Cardiff
and all issues will be thoroughly investigated.
If patients, family or friends are interested in
helping to publicise or fund raise for the WCB then
again please let the central office or the local
WCB nurse know. Some of our patients have participated
in workshops at an international cancer conference
and been interviewed for local radio and television.
The patient voice is powerful and we are grateful
to all those who lend their support publicly as
well as privately. |
Jayne Sullivan - patient advocate for
herceptin, speaking at the Collaborating in
Cancer Research conference
|
The WCB is subject to the Human Tissue Act 2004 under
which research tissue banks are required to be licensed
by the Human Tissue Authority (from September 2006).
The collection, storage and issue of biomaterials to
cancer researchers has been Ethically Approved by the
Multi centre Research Ethics Committee for Wales and
each NHS Trust involved in the collection has approved
the project locally.
Patient Experiences
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