21st November 2007 - Board Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held on Wednesday 21st November at 2.00 pm in the Barry Room,Cork Centre, St Finbarr's Hospital,Cork.

Present:                                 MsMaura McGrath(Chairperson)

Ms. Margaret Mullett

Mr David Lowe

Mr Gerry ODwyer

Dr Margaret Murray

Mr. Sean Wyse

Ms Jane OBrien

Apologies:                              Dr Rob Landers

                                                Dr Mary Cahill

                                                DrCees Van Der Poel

                                                Mr David Keenan

                                                MrMark Moran

Also in attendance:               Mr. Andrew Kelly, Chief Executive

Dr William Murphy, National Medical Director

Mirenda ODonovan, Secretary to theBoard

Dr Power requested to make a brief presentation at the Board meeting.  Correspondence received for Board Members was distributed after the meeting. 

1.     Minutes of the meeting of16^th October 2007

The minutes of the meeting of Board of 16^th October were agreed subject to amendment, proposed by Mr David Lowe and seconded by Ms Jane OBrien.

2.     Matters arising

Progesa

A certificate is expected from MAK this Friday confirming a successful transfer of Progesa onto new hardware. It will then be a matter of transferring Progesa to hardware in IBTS. 

IMB

The IMB have indicated that a Tissue Establishment licence for the IBTS should issue shortly. There will not be a requirement for a further inspection.

Clinical Indemnity Scheme

A draft letter from the Board extending cover for consultants was discussed.  The contents of the letter had been approved by the DOH&C and the State Claims Agency. The letter was agreed by the Boardand it was agreed that a copy of the letter to be sent to each consultant would be sent to the DOH&C together with a letter referring to the assurances given by the DoH&C.

Legal Case

The CE advised theBoardon a legal case.

NAT

This matter is dealt with in the CEs Report.

3.     Chief Executives Report

Blood supply

The blood supply is very tight at the moment.  The blood stock was down 600 units because of a fall in donations during the weeks prior to and post the October bank holiday weekend.  Additional measures have been adopted to alleviate the pressure on the blood supply. There was a long discussion on the optimal use of blood and how supplies could be improved.

IMB Inspections

The IMB will carry out inspections at the NBC, the MRTC and two clinics before the end of the year.

Service Level Agreement with theMaterHospital

The IBTS has being trying to secure agreement with the Mater Hospital wherein the IBTS will act as third party and the Mater Hospital will be the tissue establishment for the provision of heart valves.  The Mater has agreed to return the signedSLAbefore the end of the month.

HR Issues

A further conciliation conference is scheduled to take place tomorrow on the streamlining of the laboratories.  It is intended that this will be the last day of discussions before the matter will be referred to the Labour Court.  Work has commenced on the development of phase two of the DPR, which will start towards end Q1 of 2008.

The INO has accepted the changes proposed to the role of the DA and to the supervisory role of the nurses in the implementation of changes arising from phase one.

BOSS

The IBTS has recently purchased this query tool from the NYBC.  Contracts have been signed and the project group for the implementation of this system has been established.

NHO

The IBTS met with all of the parties concerned, but there has been no major progress on this matter.  The DOH&C are due to revert with a proposal.  It was agreed to raise this matter with the Minister.  It was agreed that the current practice was of concern to theBoardand that the Boardshould write to the Secretary General of the DOH&C on the matter. It was agreed that the CE would write to the DoH&C in the first instance.

CUMH

The provision of blood banking facilities to CUMH by the IBTS was successfully transferred on 1^st November.   The Board expressed appreciation to all those involved in the provision of that service.

Blood Supply

It was agreed that the profile of the IBTS would be an item on the agenda for the December meeting. 

Audit & Compliance Committee

It was agreed that MrMark Moranwould join the newly constituted Audit & Compliance Committee and that an external expert be sourced by the Executive to sit on the new committee.  The first meeting of the new Committee will be on 12^th February 2008.

4.     Research in the IBTS

The National Medical Director presented a paper to the Board on research in the IBTS.  It was agreed that the NMD would retain responsibility for the research and development budget on a year by year basis, until the appointment of a Chair of Transfusion Medicine.  It was also agreed that the NMD would involve the other IBTS consultants in the deployment of funds in this manner.  It was agreed that the Executive would put forward a proposal, including terms of reference for an oversight committee. 

5.     Presentation by the Director of Finance

The Finance Director made a detailed presentation on the budget proposed for 2008.  The Board approved the 2008 budget and the proposal to seek a 4% increase from the DOH&C on blood, components and testing.  The Board and the Chairperson of the Finance Committee thanked the Director of Finance and her team for their work in preparing the budget.

6.     Minutes of the Finance Committee meeting 2^nd October

This was substantially covered under item 5.

7.     Minutes of the Audit Committee meeting 5^th September

The programme of activities for the coming year were agreed with the Internal Auditor. 

8.     Minutes of the Medical Advisory Committee 18^th September

The clinical indemnity issue has been dealt with under matters arising.  The implementation of ISBT 128 was discussed.  The two vacant consultant posts were discussed.  It was agreed that the requirement for these posts be reviewed in the context of a medical manpower review and that this would be an agenda item for the Board.

9.     Cork Centre - presentation by the Regional Director

The Regional Director gave a presentation to the Board on activities at the Cork Centre.  The Board thanked her for her detailed and informative presentation.

Cork Centre  presentation by Chief Executive

10. Correspondence

The Minister has agreed to a meeting with the Board on Friday 22^nd November to discuss the Cork Centre.  Other correspondence was noted.

11. Date of the next meeting

The next meeting of the Board will be at2.00pmat the National Blood Centre on Tuesday 11^th December 2007. 

Signed:________________________                              Date:____________