11th May 2005 - Board Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held on Wednesday 11th May, 2005 at 2.00 p.m. in the Boardroom, National Blood Centre, Jamess Street, Dublin 8
Present: Ms. Maura McGrath (Chairperson)
Dr. Liz Keane
Ms. Valerie Mannix
Dr. Mary Cahill
Mr. David Lowe
Ms Jane OBrien
Dr Cees Van Der Poel
Mr David Keenan
Mr Tony McNamara
Dr. Mary Horgan
Apologies: Mr. Sean Wyse
In Attendance:Mr. Andrew Kelly (CE)
Dr. William Murphy (NMD)
Mr. Michael Healy (SEO)
1. Minutes of Meeting 06.04.2005
The minutes of the Board meeting held on Wednesday, 6th April 2005, were adopted on the proposal of Dr. M. Cahill, seconded by Dr. M. Horgan and signed by the Chairperson subject to agreed amendments.
2. Matters arising
It is expected that the Strategic Plan will be printed in the coming fortnight
4. Code of Conduct for Board members
Ms. Jacqui Cross of Matheson Ormsby Prentice briefed the Board on the draft Code of Conduct for Board Members in light of the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies.
Mr. D. Keenan and Mr. T. McNamara joined the meeting at this stage.
A question and answer session followed and a number of amendments were suggested. It was agreed that Mr. M. Healy would meet with Ms. J. Cross to finalise the document and circulate to Board members for final comment.
3. Correspondence
The Chairperson agreed to revert to Board members on holding the Governance workshop.
5. Chief Executives Report
The report was noted.
The Blood supply has been under strain in recent weeks and various initiatives have been implemented to improve the supply particularly coming up to the Summer period. The situation is being monitored on a daily basis.
Mr. Paddy Bowler was appointed Operations Director as of 29th April 2005.
6. Cork Centre
Mr. Kelly brought the Boards attention to the matter of the adjournment debate on April 20th in the Dáil concerning a parliamentary question submitted by Kathleen Lynch TD in regard to the Cork Centre. During the debate the Minister for State at the Dept. of Health & Children, Mr Brian Lenihan, stated that the Capital programme of the Dept. of Health & Children for 2005 provided for the appointment of a design team to commence the next phase of the development of a new centre for Cork. The IBTS expects to receive formal notification once approval is received from the Dept. of Finance for the entire capital programme.
Dr. Mary Horgan and Dr. Liz Keane left the meeting at this stage.
Dr. Mary Cahill briefed the Board on her draft paper IBTS proposed investment in academic transfusion medicine in Cork. The possible costs, staffing levels, and management of such a project were discussed.
It was agreed in principle that such a project would be worthwhile, however it was felt that a detailed business case would be required before any specific financial commitments could be delivered. The Chairperson invited Dr. Cahill and the sub group to submit a detailed business case with the assistance of the Director of Finance and bring to Board at the earliest opportunity. It was agreed that this would be September 2005.
8. Minutes of MAC Meeting 9th March 2005
The minutes were noted.
7. Kubanek Report
The Chief Executive briefed the Board on a paper he circulated regarding the Kubanek report and the current situation of the IBTS. In particular he noted the importance Prof. Kubanek attached to structure and uniformity of processes in the provision of safe blood components.
Mr. T. McNamara left the meeting at this stage.
The CE emphasised the central and independent role of the Quality Management system. The integrity of the Quality Management system must be maintained and there cannot be two separate standards. Any deviations must be justified, planned and signed off by the appropriate authority.
It was agreed that the Board would revert to the report at the next meeting to give members sufficient time to peruse the CEs paper. The Board would need to be fully assured of the uniformity of processes within the IBTS nationally and that procedures are in place and being implemented which will ensure no breach occurs.
It was agreed that a consultancy company would be appointed to examine management structures already in place and review revised structures to ensure conformity with the highest standards of Corporate Governance. In addition the Quality Management System will be assessed for its robustness as a unified quality system across all centres of the organisation.
The NMD and SEO left the meeting at this stage.
The meeting concluded shortly thereafter.
The next meeting of the Board will take place at 2pm in the NBC on Wednesday June 8th 2005.
Signed: . .. Date:
