Work of the Joint Committee (as of July 2001):

National  Pregnancy Record - Amendments will shortly be recommended by Professor Soothill’s working group

Consent and Confidentiality Working Party - Dr Fiona Douglas will present the first draft of this major piece of work for consultation during the British Human Genetics Conference in September 2001.

Genetics Education - Work is continuing on the possibility of a national undergraduate medical curriculum in genetics, and on the development of a modular postgraduate training course in genetics.

Guidance for Ethical Committees on Genetics - Dr Cyril Chapman’s working group is completing this document which it is hoped will be adopted by the Central Office for Research Ethics Committees and of use to local research ethics committees.

National Electronic Library for Health - It has been proposed that a genetics branch library be added to the National Electronic Library for Health; Professor Haites is convening a workshop to identify suitable content.

Proposed Contracting Currencies - Professional groups on the Joint Committee have prepared proposed contracting currencies (available as PDF files here) for molecular genetics, cytogenetics and clinical genetics, to be used for a trial period.