16th May 2006 - Board Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held on Tuesday 16th May 2006 at 1.30pm in The Heritage Hotel, Portlaoise

Present:                                  Ms M McGrath (Chairperson)

                                               Mr.SeanWyse

Mr. David Lowe

                                               Mr. David Keenan

Dr. Mary Cahill

Apologies:                  Dr.Melanie Cotter                           

Mr. Mark Moran

Dr. Mary Horgan

Mr.Tony McNamara

Ms. Jane OBrien

In Attendance:           Mr. Andrew Kelly (CE)

                                    Dr. William Murphy (NMD)

                                    Mr. Jim Shanahan (SEO)

Minutes of Meeting12^th April 2006

The minutes of the Board meeting held on Wednesday 12^th April 2006, were adopted, on the proposal of Mr D Keenan, seconded by Dr M Cahill and were signed by the Chairperson.

Matters Arising

The CE informed the meeting that Acuvest were actively working to change the balance of the Pension Fund. Also the Unions have agreed to go to ballot on the new scheme.

Environmental Health & Safety

Ms C Meade, Environmental Health & Safety Manager, gave a presentation to the Boardon the development of, progress to date and future plans for the EHS functional role within the IBTS. The presentation included information on our Safety Management System, the National Waste Management Committee and our Accident/Incident Reporting Programme.

The Board congratulated Ms C Meade on the comprehensive nature of her presentation.

Minutes of the MAC Meeting15^th March 2006

           The Minutes of the MAC Meeting 15^th March 2006 were noted.

Dr M Cahill and Dr W Murphy updated the meeting on proposed trials for pathogen inactivation of plasma, possible screening tests for vCJD, prion filtration trials and proposed changes to the policy on collecting donations from people with haemochromatosis.

Dr M Cahill informed the meeting that she has engaged Mr Conor Hanaway, on the approval of the chairperson, to progress on the development of clinical Key Performance Indicators.

The CE informed the Board that a meeting had been held with the IMB on 4^th May  2006to discuss the NHO. A number of issues have to be clarified and it was agreed that further consideration would have to be given to the requirements of the EU Blood Directive in the context of the traceability requirements and the reporting of the NHO.

3.         Chief Executives Report

The CE report was noted.

The CE clarified that the Financial Results circulated excluded details on costs. He added that April had seen a negative contribution from blood products to the bottom line due to a marked reduction in sales for the month. However, at the end of April the accounts were still displaying a positive variance on budget. Both revenue and expenditure are being monitored closely on a monthly basis so that corrective actions can be identified and implemented if this trend continues.

It was agreed that the draft Service Level Agreements to be entered into with individual hospitals will be presented to the next Board Meeting.

CorkCentre

The CE advised the meeting that he has had an initial meeting with DOH&C officials regarding the submission of an updated proposal for the development of the new Cork Centre and a further meeting is scheduled.

6.         Allocation of Financial Resources

Concerns were raised at the refusal of the HSE to provide funds for the Hepatitis C Lookback / Reassurance Programme while the IBTS had a current surplus despite the fact that the Board has already agreed to the allocation of this surplus to identified specific projects.

It was agreed that the CE would consult with the Director of Finance to see if there is any mechanism in the accounts to reflect this decision and the commitment of the surplus.

8.         Review of Internal Financial Controls for the year ending31^st December 2005

The report was noted.

Mr D Keenan informed the meeting that the report had been reviewed in detail at the last Audit Committee meeting and the committee are fully satisfied with the controls that were in force for the year ending 31^st December 2005.

The Board approved that the Chairperson sign the statement in the Audited Financial Statements for 2005 to this effect.           

9.         Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Board will take place at 2pm on Wednesday 14^th June 2006 in the NBC.

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