9th March 2005 - Board Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held on Wednesday 9th March, 2005 at 1.00 p.m. in the Boardroom, National Blood Centre, Jamess Street, Dublin 8
Present: Ms. Maura McGrath (Chairperson)
Mr. Sean Wyse
Ms. Valerie Mannix
Dr. Mary Cahill
Dr. Liz Keane
Mr. David Lowe
Ms. Jane OBrien
Dr. Cees Van Der Poel
Mr. David Keenan
Mr. Tony McNamara
Dr. Mary Horgan
In Attendance: Mr. Andrew Kelly (CE)
Dr. William Murphy (NMD)
Mr. Michael Healy (SEO)
1. Minutes of Meeting 16.02.2005
The minutes of the Board meeting held on Wednesday, February 16th 2005 were adopted on the proposal of Ms. V. Mannix, seconded by Mr. D. Lowe and signed by the Chairperson subject to agreed amendments.
2. Matters arising
It was agreed that a full copy of the updated Strategic Plan would be circulated to Board members for final approval.
The Risk Register will be examined by the Audit Committee to identify the risks that the Board should pay particular attention to from a Governance perspective. Ms. V. Mannix noted that the process of creating a risk register for the pension fund has begun.
3. Correspondence
The Board noted the correspondence from the Chairperson to the Tánaiste highlighting a number of issues and inviting her to meet with the Board in the near future. The Chairperson briefed the Board on her recent meeting with the Tánaiste.
It was agreed that other correspondence would be dealt with later in the meeting.
4. Donor Notification
Professor B. Kubanek and Mr. R. Bourke joined the meeting for this item.
The final report on HCV Repeat Reactive Donor Management in Dublin and Cork was circulated to Board members. Prof. Kubanek gave a presentation and answered members questions on the report. Mr. R. Bourke advised the Board on the implications of publishing the report. Dr. Cees Van der Poel briefed the Board on the background work to the report and in particular the role played by the board sub committee in supporting the work of Prof. Kubanek. The Chairperson thanked Prof Kubanek for his extensive work and for the report, which had closed off some outstanding issues regarding the donor notification issue. The Board was impressed with the detail and comprehensive research undertaken by Prof Kubanek and with his insight into, and experience of, the issues involved. It was understood that the report reinforced the findings of the Finlay Tribunal and had in addition clarified and documented the numbers of donors involved in the notification issue. The Board was satisfied that the report would bring closure to the matter.
After a discussion regarding the process to be put in place for disseminating the report it was agreed that the report would be sent to the Tánaiste and those named in the report, simultaneously as well as to Board members. It was also agreed that staff should be briefed prior to any announcement to the media.
There were suggestions from Board members that external PR advice should be taken on how the report would be published. It was agreed that the current manner of dealing with the media should pertain on this occasion but with external professional advice / assistance.
Mr. Tony McNamara and Dr. Mary Horgan left the meeting at this stage.
Other Correspondence
5. Chief Executives Report
The report was noted.
The Chief Executive (CE) briefed the Board on the recent IMB Inspection in Cork. It was noted that the IMB were satisfied with the upgraded facilities in the Cork Centre. The inspection highlighted the issue of transporting platelets, which is being addressed.
The Climate Survey action plan will be published in A5 booklet form. The plan will be reviewed on a quarterly basis by the Business Review Group (BRG) subgroup and Partnership members, to ensure that the timelines are being adhered to and that the actions proposed are being implemented.
6. Minutes of Finance Meeting - 1.12.2004
The minutes of the meeting were noted.
7. Minutes of MAC Meeting 12.01.2005
The minutes were noted.
8. AOB
The resolution to open a deposit account with Bank of Scotland was adopted by the Board and signed by the Chairperson and Secretary.
The Chairperson proposed that the issue of governance would be deferred to the next meeting and agreed to correspond with board members on the matter.
The Senior Executive Officer and National Medical Director left the meeting at this stage.
The CE briefed the Board on recent media coverage of the IBTS and in particular the Regional Directors intention to hold a Press Conference. It was agreed that the CE should write to the Regional Director restating the Code of Conduct.
9. Date of next meeting
The next meeting of the Board will take place at 2pm in the NBC on Wednesday April 13th 2005.
Signed:
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.. Date:
