12th April 2006 - Board Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held on Wednesday 12th April 2006 at 1pmin the Boardroom, National Blood Centre, James's Street, Dublin 8

Present:                                  Ms M McGrath (Chairperson)

                                                Dr.Melanie Cotter                           

                                              Mr.SeanWyse

Mr. David Lowe

Dr. Mary Horgan

Mr.Tony McNamara

                                                Ms. Jane OBrien

Mr. David Keenan

Dr. Mary Cahill

Apologies:                  Dr. Liz Keane                        

Mr. Mark Moran

In Attendance:           Mr. Andrew Kelly (CE)

                                    Dr. William Murphy (NMD)

                                    Mr. Jim Shanahan (SEO)

Minutes of Meeting8^th February 2006

The minutes of the Board meeting held on Wednesday 8^th February 2006, were adopted, on the proposal of Mr D Lowe, seconded by Mr D Keenan and were signed by the Chairperson, subject to agreed amendments.

Matters Arising

The CE informed the meeting that a preferred candidate for the position of HR Director had been identified and that it was hoped that they would start in 4-6 weeks.

The CE informed the meeting that Dr W Murphy and himself had a brief meeting with Prof. Brendan Drumm on 14^th March 2006which profiled the IBTS for Prof. Drumm and gave him a tour of the building.

The CE and the Director of Finance had met with Mr Liam Woods, National Director of Finance at the HSE, regarding the funding of the Hep C Programme. The CE has subsequently, as agreed, written to Mr Liam Woods and Dr Mary Hynes in this matter.

The CE referred again to the Agenda of Presentations by senior managers that he had presented to the Board at the last meeting. The Board agreed to the proposed Agenda and identified this as a valuable source of information for them.

The CE informed the meeting that the Balanced Scoresheet and KPIs had been discussed at the Finance Committee Meeting on 10^th April 2006 and that he would be presenting a revised format and status report to the Board at the May meeting.

3.         Chief Executives Report

The CE report was noted.

The CE said that we had received the IMB Inspectors report on the December 2005 audit of the MRTC. He noted that this report and all future reports will be set out in the format of the EU Blood Directive. He also noted that the IMB had stated in the report that the interim buildings had contributed to an improvement in the level of compliance with EU and national legislation relating to premises and equipment but it remains the position of the IMB that the provision of a purpose built facility is, ultimately, the means by which full compliance can be maintained.

The CE also informed the meeting that he would keep them updated on the performance of our Quality System by way of Reports on IMB inspections and 6 monthly reports on the outcome of internal audits. Finally, he hopes by the latter part of the year to present a model on Quality Indicators.

The CE updated the Board on a number of IR/HR changes/issues and their implications for the organisation:

The Chairperson noted the date of Donor Award Ceremonies in the CE Report and asked Board Members, where possible, to make themselves available as this presents us with an opportunity to meet and learn from critical stakeholders in our business, donors and LVOs.

Robust Management of Threats in a Complex Environment A Framework for a National Transfusion Policy

Dr W Murphy, NMD, gave a presentation to the Board which looked at our experience with existing threats to the blood supply and proposed a model that will endeavour to protect the safety of the blood supply by managing threat instead of risk in a complex environment.

Blood Supply

Mr P Bowler, Operations Director, gave a presentation to the Board that covered blood procurement, stock management including a stock projection model and the donation process review.

The Chairperson thanked Dr W Murphy and Mr P Bowler for their very informative and thought provoking presentations.

In particular, she indicated that Mr P Bowlers presentation displayed the need for the Board to consider how we should promote & manage the public perception of the organisation in the future. She undertook to circulate a briefing note on this issue for discussion at the Board Workshop on 16^th May 2006.

6.        CorkCentre

Allocation of Financial Resources

This item was included in the discussions on the Cork Centre.

8.         Minutes of the MAC Meetings11^th January 2006&8^th February 2006

           The Minutes of the MAC Meetings  11^th January 2006&8^th February 2006 were noted.

            Dr M Cahill updated the meeting on bone banking proposals in MRTC, vCJD prion filtration trials, potential vCJD tests, proposed pathogen inactivation trials, and the NHO.

The MAC had discussed the letter received from the CE dated27^th January 2006regarding revised Terms of Reference and there was no difficulty in referring recommendations to the Executive, for assessment of the non-medical impact on the organisation, prior to presentation to the Board. It was noted, however, that there may be circumstances where it may be necessary to bring recommendations to the immediate attention of the Board.

 With regard to responsibility for the development of relevant Clinical Key Performance Indicators Dr M Cahill reported that it was decided that, under its current format and terms of reference, the MAC was not the appropriate mechanism to take responsibility for this governance issue.

It was agreed that the CE, NMD & Director of Quality would meet to propose a model for assessing performance on clinical governance.

9.         Minutes of Audit Committee Meeting18^th January 2006

           The minutes of the Audit Committee Meeting 18^th January 2006 were noted.

            Mr D Keenan updated the meeting on discussions on the Internal Auditors Recommendations Log, the Risk Register and Internal Audit Reports on Financial Controls and the Business Continuity Plan that took place at their meeting on 29^th March 2006.

10.       Interim Report on Pensions Scheme

           The contents of the Report were noted.

            The CE informed the meeting that the Trustees are reviewing the performance of the fund managers with the assistance of Acuvest and that he hopes to progress, in the near future, in discussions with the Unions on financing the current deficit on the fund based on the actuarial valuation.

11.       Board Workshop  16^th May 2006

           It was agreed that Mr C Hanaway would facilitate the workshop as this would provide continuity from the last workshop. The Chairperson said that Mr Hanaway would contact each Board Member in preparation for the workshop on 16^th May 2006.

12.       Correspondence

The correspondence was noted.

13.       Date and Venue of Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Board will take place in the Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise on Tuesday 16th May. The time will be confirmed when arrangements for the workshop are finalised.

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