9th January 2007 - Board Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held on Tuesday 9th January 2007 at 2.00 p.m. in the Boardroom, National Blood Centre, James's Street, Dublin 8

Present:                                Ms. Maura McGrath (Chairperson)

Mr. Sean Wyse

Mr. David Keenan

Dr. Margaret Murray

Dr Mary Cahill

Ms. Margaret Mullett

Mr Mark Moran

Dr Robert Landers

Dr Cees van der Poel

Mr David Lowe

Mr. Gerry ODwyer

Ms Jane OBrien

Also in attendance:           Mr. Andrew Kelly, Chief Executive

Dr. William Murphy, National Medical Director

Ms. Patricia McNally, Acting Secretary

The Board recorded their sympathy to Ms. Mirenda ODonovan, Secretary to the Board, and her family on the recent death of her mother, Margaret.

1.     Minutes of the meeting of12^th December 2006

The minutes of the meeting of 12^th December were agreed subject to amendment, proposed by Dr. Cees van der Poel and seconded by Mr Mark Moran.

The Chairperson noted that she was unable contact Deloitte and Item 6 on the Agenda would be deferred to the February meeting. 

2.     Matters arising

The CE confirmed that the Statutory Instrument governing the activities of the IBTS is still in draft and the current draft had been circulated with the paper on governance.

The CE noted that the Department of Health & Children had agreed to the 9.5% increase on testing and red cells.  The Board approved the increase which applied from 1^st January 2007.

The CE confirmed that a meeting had been scheduled with the IMB, DOH&C and the IBTS for Thursday 25^th January 2007 to discuss the NHO.  He also confirmed that a first draft of the report by Dr. P. Strengers on the NHO had been received.

The final report from the IMB inspection of the Cork Centre is awaited.

The CE confirmed that he had contacted AON about salary increases and how these are treated in preparing the funding statement. The actuary confirmed that they are treated as discretionary for the purposes of the funding statement.

4.   Chief Executives Report

The blood supply remains robust.  A review of the year end figures for 2006 was noted.

      HR Issues

The new Internal Auditor, Ms. Grace Cantwell, commenced on 8^th January 2007.

eProgesa

The CE reported that a patch had been received from MAK SYSTEMS which had 117 fixes out of the 124 outstanding bugs.  He confirmed that MAK were working on the patch and once finished the IBTS would begin testing the system.

5.   Governance Arrangement IBTS

The future governance arrangements for the IBTS was discussed and in particular the reporting arrangements for the IBTS.  The CE confirmed that at the moment the IBTS report to the DOH&C on policy issues but liaise with the National Hospitals Office on some operational issues.

It was agreed that the IBTS needs clarity on this issue and the CE and NMD would discuss the issue with the DOH&C. The IBTS should be proactive in ensuring that the appropriate reporting arrangements were put in place for the organisation. The Board requested that the Executive bring forward a position paper on the issue to be discussed at a future meeting.

6.   MAC - Prion Filtration studies using the MacroPharma/PRDT filter

Dr. Mary Cahill noted that Dr. Murphy had circulated a paper to the MAC in relation to the Prion Filtration studies using the MacroPharma/PRDT filter. 

Dr. Murphy noted that the IBTS has been very active in addressing the threat of transmission of vCJD by blood transfusion for many years.  He also noted that the IBTS has been expecting to begin clinical trials using a new red cell filter, manufacturer by MacoPharma/PRDT, as soon as initial human safety data for the device became available.  

The device itself became available for clinical use in September 2006 when it received a CE mark.  Dr. Murphy and the Board agreed that it is important that the Boardaddresses all the issues surrounding the introduction of this filter so that the IBTS could further limit the possibility of transmission of vCJD through blood transfusion by doing its utmost to evaluate the introduction of this filter for clinical use.

Dr. Cahill confirmed that the MAC discussed this issue today and agreed to recommend to the Boardthe introduction of the filter into clinical use in the context of a formal, approved, clinical trial.  It was confirmed that initial clinical use could only take place with the explicit consent of patients.

The Board agreed to the proposal by Dr. Murphy to apply for permission to the Ethics Committee of a University Hospital to conduct a clinical trial of red cells filtered using this device, and in advance of any other human safety data.

3.  CorkCentre

The Chairperson reported on the meeting in December of the Board subgroup with the Minister for Health & Children to discuss the report for the new Cork Centre.  It was noted that the report had been sent to the Department of Finance who wanted clarification on some issues.  It was noted that the Minister requested further information before she would make a decision on funding which she expected would be in mid-February. 

After a discussion it was agreed that a Steering Group comprising of the CE, NMD, Director of Finance, Operations Director, Director of Quality, Regional Director and Laboratory Manager, Cork, would be established to review possible options and bring a document to the board meeting in February.  It was also agreed that the Chairperson would contact the Department of Health & Children to request a representative from the Department to join on the Steering Group. 

7.   Profile of the IBTS

      It was agreed that this item would be deferred to the February meeting.

8.   Correspondence

A letter from the DOH&C concerning the allowance payable to Board members and a letter from AON regarding the new Boardof Trustees for the pension scheme was noted.

9.   Dates of meetings 2007

Dates for meetings in 2007 were discussed.  The Board agreed that the Board meeting would change to the 3^rd Tuesday of every month with the exception of February and December which would stay on the second Tuesday.  It was agreed that a list of revised dates would be circulated to all Boardmembers.

The next meeting will take place on Tuesday 13^th February 2007 @ 2.00 p.m.

The programme for Board meetings 2007 was agreed.

Signed: _______________________            Date:__________________