10th December 2003 - Board Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held on Wednesday 10th December, 2003 at 1.00pm Boardroom, National Blood Centre, Jamess Street, Dublin 8
Present: Ms Maura McGrath (Chairperson)
Dr Mary Horgan
Ms Valerie Mannix
Mr Tony McNamara
Dr Liz Keane
Dr Helen Enright
Dr Cees Van Der Poel
Mr David Lowe
Mr David Keenan
Apologies: Dr Gerry Crotty
In Attendance: Mr Andrew Kelly (A/CE)
Dr William Murphy (NMD)
Mr. Michael Healy (Secretary)
Ms M McGrath Chairperson welcomed two new Board members, Mr David Keenan and Mr David Lowe. Mr. David Keenan has been appointed to the Board for the period 22 September 2003 to 21 September 2006. Mr David Lowe has been appointed to the Board for the period 1 December 2003 to 30 November 2006.
1. Minutes of Meeting 12.11.2003
The minutes of the Board Meeting held on Wednesday November 12th 2003, were adopted on the proposal of Ms V. Mannix, seconded by Dr. M. Horgan and signed by the Chairman subject to agreed amendments.
2. Matters arising
Tissue Banking
The A/CE informed the Board that he has agreed to permit the issuing of bone allograft from the Cork Centre on a named patient basis.
3. Chief Executives Report
The report was noted.
The A/CE briefed the Board on five major deficiencies identified by the IMB during the course of its audit of the MRTC.
1. Premises and Equipment
As stated in previous reports, the inspectors believe the building is unsuitable for long term use and is not GMP compliant. The ACE will be discussing the Cork Development programme with the IMB.
2. Personnel
QA/QC existing resources cannot fulfil their brief and resources are stretched due to STO and QA Officer positions not being filled.
IBTS board members expressed concern at the difficulties in attracting qualified candidates for the two QA positions in the Cork Centre, even though one of the positions had been upgraded. The A/CE informed the Board that he has decided to use the services of a recruitment agency and also to advertise the positions in the UK. However, it was agreed that there are a number of factors that militate against attracting applicants of a suitable calibre for senior posts in the Cork Centre. It was also felt that a second Medical Consultant post should be filled as soon as possible.
3. Quality Management
QA not sufficiently aware of the urgency and extent of product recall. IMB noted that closeout of non-conformances prior to QA review was not appropriate.
4. Re-routing Programme
The National Medical Director explained the genesis of the re-routing programme. It was noted that the IMB had a major concern regarding the potential for inadvertent reissuing of recalled product and that the relevant SOP was difficult to understand. The A/CE has suspended the programme until such time as he is satisfied that the faults highlighted have been satisfactorily dealt with.
5. Irradiation
There is a need to integrate Quality Systems within Munster and NBC. The IMB highlighted deficiencies in the operation of the Irradiator. The A/CE has requested the Chief Technical Officer and Validation Manager from Dublin to carry out a risk assessment on the operation of the Irradiator from 1/8/2003 to date.
The Chairperson requested the A/CE to evaluate the current situation in Cork and to present a report at the January Board meeting outlining the actions proposed to deal with the deficiencies noted by the IMB and the provision of the interim accommodation on the St Finbarrs site.
The issue arose again during discussion on the Strategic Plan and serious concern was expressed about the situation. The Board was sufficiently concerned that it has requested the report referred to above to be finalised within the coming week.
4. Strategic Plan 2004 2009
Mr A Kelly A/CE gave a presentation to the Board on the proposed Strategic Plan. Following the presentation Ms Olga Flinter Training & Development Manager facilitated a workshop for the Board on developing a Strategic Plan for the IBTS.
5. Donor Notification 1991 1994
6. Development of Cork Centre
Mr Kelly informed the Board that DoHC approval had been received to proceed with interim accommodation at the Cork Centre and an additional 1 million approved for the building of a components laboratory. He also informed the Board that Jacobs engineering has been engaged to carry out a risk assessment of what the impact would be on the environment in the components laboratory of re-roofing and refurbishment works on that part of the Facility. It is intended to have this assessment completed before Christmas.
Items 7, 8 and 9 on the agenda were deferred.
10. Signatories for the Seal of the Board
The Board approved Mr David Keenan as the second signature for the seal of the board.
The board also agreed a list of IBTS managers as authorised signatories for payment of funds from IBTS bank accounts.
11. Schedule of meetings for 2004 & date of next meeting
The dates of the board meetings for 2004 were circulated.
The next meeting of the IBTS Board will take place on Wednesday 14th January 2003 at 2.00pm in the NBC.
Signed:
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.. Date:
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