11th February 2004 - Board Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held on Wednesday 11th February, 2004 at 2.00pm Boardroom, National Blood Centre, Jamess Street, Dublin 8
Present: Ms Maura McGrath (Chairperson)
Mr Sean Wyse
Ms Valerie Mannix
Mr Tony McNamara
Dr Cees Van Der Poel
Mr David Lowe
Mr David Keenan
Apologies: Dr Liz Keane
Dr Mary Horgan
Dr Helen Enright
Dr Gerry Crotty
In Attendance: Mr Andrew Kelly (A/CE)
Dr William Murphy (NMD)
Mr. Michael Healy (SEO)
Ms M McGrath, Chairperson, welcomed Mr Sean Wyse to the Board.
1. Minutes of Meeting 14.01.2004
The minutes of the Board Meeting held on Wednesday 14th January 2004, were adopted on the proposal of Ms V. Mannix, seconded by Mr. T. McNamara and signed by the Chairperson subject to agreed amendments.
2. Matters arising
Mr. David Keenan has agreed to serve on the Board sub-committee dealing with the organisation development programme.
The National Medical Director (NMD) updated the Board on the issue of vCJD. A donor survey is being completed at present with a view to predicting the impact, if the IBTS were to extend the UK donor deferral and deferring donors who have undergone blood transfusions. It was noted that the IBTS imports all corneas from the USA. The importation of heart valves from the UK is under review at present.
It was agreed that the NMD would brief the Board again on the matter at the March meeting.
The matter of blood usage in hospitals requires examination. It is expected that a report from the National Blood Strategy Implementation Group will issue in the near future and will make recommendations on blood usage.
The A/CE briefed the Board on the recent meeting of the IBTS Chairperson and A/CE with the Chairman and vice-Chair of the Southern Health Board (SHB). The SHB has given approval for a site for the extension of the Cork Centre at St. Finbarrs, to allow for the upgrading and development of the Centre.
3. Chief Executives Report
The report was noted.
The Hospital Liaison Committee will be hosting a workshop 1/3/2004, on blood usage / stock management and the implications of the EU Directive. IBTS medical consultants will be speaking.
The issue of QA in the Cork Centre and the recent IMB inspection, together with ISO accreditation, was discussed. The Board fully endorsed the approach adopted by the A/CE to proactively manage the situation in Cork, so as to ensure efficient and effective operations. The highest priority must be given to the maintenance of current services and the development of other services, in line with Board policy. Resources will be allocated by the A/CE to achieve this objective. The development of the Cork Centre was seen as a top priority to which all necessary resources and energy would be devoted.
The Business Review Group met in Portlaoise on January 30th / 31st to continue the development of the strategic plan. The group will meet again offsite on 2nd / 3rd March 2004 to discuss and set out a plan of action in relation to aspects of the strategic plan and the recent management climate survey.
It was agreed that the Board would meet in early March to continue with the work begun at the December meeting on formulating strategy.
The Chairperson acknowledged the professionalism and expertise of IBTS staff in the organisation of the recent donor award ceremonies in Dublin and Sligo and in the opening of the new centre in Stillorgan, Co. Dublin.
4. Review International Panel Recommendations on Testing
After much discussion it was agreed that the recommendations, in particular restructuring in the IBTS, could feed into the Board workshop on strategy in March 2004. It was noted that the IMB regard GMP rather than ISO as the appropriate standard regarding compliance. It was agreed that there should be a standard within which all operations would comply. The Board agreed that it would in due course decide on the appropriate quality systems pertaining to the IBTS operations. It was agreed to include the International Panel recommendations on the Agenda for the March Board meeting and as an item for discussion at the workshop.
5. Donor Notification 1991 1994
The Chairperson briefed the new Board members on the issue. She reiterated the importance of bringing closure to the issue and in this regard it was agreed that the sub committee should be given whatever resources were required to expedite proceedings and that clerical support could be offered to the Cork centre so as to avoid any further delay. In light of the fact that some medical consultants were absent, it was agreed to put this item on the Agenda for the March meeting.
6. Revised Code of Conduct for Board Members
It was decided to defer this item to the March meeting.
7. Development of Cork Centre
Architects have been appointed to the design team for the interim solution on the campus of St. Finbarrs Hospital. Assuming there are no delays with the planning process, it is expected that the temporary facilities will be operational by the end of August 2004. The Board felt it important that the interim solution should be expedited and that any impediments to progressing the matter, from whatever source, would be removed. It was suggested that a contingency plan should be developed to ensure continuity of service. The priority must be to meet the IMB requirements and if this is not possible in the timeframe laid down, then all options, including temporarily moving some services to the NBC, in delivering an appropriate standard of service, must be explored.
The IMB are satisfied with the steps being taken to deal with the deficiencies outlined in their latest report of the Cork centre. It was understood that full compliance could ultimately only be achieved through the provision of a new centre.
8. Organisational Development Programme
The facilitation process in the Medical Department has continued for 13 months. It was agreed that the input from the Medical Department should come to Board at the March workshop. It was agreed to request Communiqué International to update the Board on the matter.
9. Review of Pension Scheme
Ms. V. Mannix briefed the Board on the current state of the pension scheme. It was noted that benchmarking affected the pension fund and that investment performance was disappointing. The IBTS had invested considerably in the fund in recent times. It was suggested that a bi-annual report on the pension scheme should come to Board. It was agreed to review the superannuation arrangements and the recommendations should come to Board for the June 2004 meeting. Mr. David Keenan and Mr. David Lowe agreed to serve on the review group. The Board acknowledged the past work of the late Ann Small as part of the pension trustee group.
10. Minutes of MAC 10.12.2003
Dr. van der Poel briefed the Board on the MAC meeting of December 12th 2003. It was noted that the one recorded case of BSE in the USA could be traced to a cow that had been imported from Canada.
11. Minutes of Finance Committee 03.12.2003
Mr. T. McNamara briefed the Board on the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of December 3rd 2003.
12. Date of Next Meeting
The next meeting of the IBTS Board will take place on Wednesday March 10th 2004. It is hoped to have a Board workshop on Strategy around this time.
Signed:
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.. Date:
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