Welcome to the NACG Nordic Consent Framework.
Included in this framework you will find the following documents to aid in the delivery of informed consent in combination with a healthcare provider to patients in the clinical context for genetic testing; to be used with a non-vulnerable, adult population.
Please refer to the following guidance regarding the genetic testing information sheet and consent form prior to adoption in your healthcare institution. The documents may require multiple adjustments to tailor it to your healthcare institution before use with patients. The genetic testing information sheet and consent form do not represent professional or legal advice of any kind. Obtaining informed consent from patients participating in genetic and genomic testing in the clinical context requires legal and ethical review prior to administration to patients. As a result, healthcare institutions should seek appropriate legal guidance when developing their consent processes.
The genetic testing information sheet and consent form were developed by the Nordic Alliance for Clinical Genomics (NACG), the BIGMED legal network and, following their establishment in May 2020, the Nordic PermedLaw legal network. The work was led by DNV GL, Precision Medicine research program who are NACG members.
As of today (22 Dec 2020), in the Nordic countries, there is no single, standardized approach to administering informed consent to patients undergoing genetic testing. Starting January 2020, NACG conducted a Nordic multi-disciplinary focused approach to developing a harmonized approach to clinical consent framework and toolkit development with the following motivation:
In brief, the development process included multiple stages that started with a comprehensive mapping of Danish, Islandic, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and European legislation, best practices, and policy on the topic of informed consent and genetic testing in the clinical context. A multi-disciplinary network consisting of those working in healthcare institutions in genetic testing (such as genetic counselors, laboratory personnel, clinicians and healthcare leaders), legal advisors specifically from the Nordic Permed Law network, patient groups and industry partners working in quality assurance and genetic testing all provided input to on-going reiterations to the consent documents over the course of a year. The input was gathered through the following channels:
Sharmini Alagaratnam
Secreteriat and Benchmarking, harmonization and Standardization WS lead
DNV
Norway
Bobbie N. Ray-Sannerud
Director of Secretariat
DNV
Norway