20th May 2008 - Board Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of theBoardof the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held onTuesday 20th May 2008at2.00 pmin the Clarendon Room, Westbury Hotel,Dublin2.

 

Present:                                 MsMaura McGrath(Chairperson)

Dr Mary Cahill

Ms. Margaret Mullett

Dr Robert Landers

Mr David Lowe

Mr Gerry O’Dwyer

MrSean Wyse

                                                Ms Jane O’Brien

DrCees Van Der Poel

MrMark Moran

Mr David Keenan

 

Apologies:                              Dr Margaret Murray

 

Also in attendance:               Mr. Andrew Kelly, Chief Executive

Dr William Murphy, National Medical Director

Mirenda O’Donovan, Secretary to theBoard

 

 

 

1.                 Minutes of the meeting of 19th February 2008

The minutes of the meeting of the Board of 15th April 2008were agreed subject to amendment and were proposed by Mr David Lowe and seconded by Mr Sean Wyse.

2.                 Matters arising

 

BOSS

This project is progressing on target.

HR Issues

MLSA members have voted against the Labour Courtrecommendation and strategy is being developed on how to progress the issues.

.

BoardManual

This was circulated at the meeting.

3.                 Chief Executive’s Report

 

Blood Supply

This has tightened up considerably over the last week to 10 days, as a result of the good weather which has seen a reduction in donations. The situation is being closely monitored.

 

Therapeutic Apheresis Service

The IBTS met the HSE to discuss the transfer of this service.

IMB inspections

The IMB will be carrying out an inspection of the Cork Centre on 21st, 22nd and 23rd May and in the NBC on 26th, 27th and 28th May. 

 

Quality

A full review of all SOPs is underway to identify the differences and to standardise practice between Centres. As this is a Board priority, it was agreed that the matter would be reported on to the Board on a monthly basis initially and then every quarter, for the duration of the project.

HR

TheLabour Court recommendation on the change in working arrangements in the laboratories was rejected by staff. The situation is under review and it is clear a different approach may have to be adopted to have the changes implemented. TheBoardhave requested a briefing paper on the level of change required in the laboratories. The Board noted progress made to date in achieving a Labour Courtrecommendation but expressed disappointment that the unions had not accepted the outcome.

4.                 Presentation on blood supply and related issues

 

The Director of Operations made a presentation to the Board on the blood supply and related issues.  TheBoardthanked the Director of Operations for his detailed and informative presentation.

5.                 Presentation on forthcoming challenges

 

The National Medical Director made a presentation to the Board on forthcoming challenges.  TheBoardthanked the National Medical Director for his detailed and informative presentation which raised a number of critical challenges for the service.

6.                 Medical Advisory Committee minutes 

 

It was noted that Dr Fitzgerald would be making a presentation on clinical services at the next Board meeting.  A total of 19 patients have been recruited for the prion filter study and this is ongoing.

7.                 Finance Committee minutes 19th & 29th February

 

The terms of reference of the Finance Committee were amended and approved by the Board.  The C&AG’s report and the KPMG report on eProgesa were discussed. It was agreed that the Executive Summary of the KPMG report would be circulated for the next board meeting with management response.

8.                 CorkCentre

 

No progress to report. The lack of a decision was worrying and raises serious issues for the current Centre.

9.          Correspondence

 

Noted

10.      IBTS Profile

 

This item was deferred until the strategic planning session tomorrow (Wednesday 22nd May).

11.       Date of next meeting

 

The next meeting of the Board will be on Tuesday 17th June at the National Blood Centre, commencing at 2pm.

Signed: ______________________               Date: ___________________