8th December 2004 - Board Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service
held on Wednesday 8th December, 2004 at 1.00 p.m.
Boardroom, National Blood Centre, Jamess Street, Dublin 8.
Present: Ms. Maura McGrath (Chairperson)
Mr. Sean Wyse
Ms. Valerie Mannix
Dr. Mary Cahill
Mr. David Lowe
Mr. David Keenan
Dr. Mary Horgan
Ms. Jane OBrien
Dr. Liz Keane
Apologies: Mr. Tony McNamara
Dr. Cees Van Der Poel
In Attendance: Mr. Andrew Kelly (CE)
Dr. William Murphy (NMD)
Mr. Michael Healy (SEO)
Ms. M. McGrath, Chairperson, welcomed Dr. Mary Cahill to her first Board Meeting.
1. Minutes of Previous Meeting held on 10.11.2004
The minutes of the Board meeting held on Wednesday, November 10th 2004, were adopted on the proposal of Mr. D. Keenan, seconded by Mr. D. Lowe and signed by the Chairperson subject to agreed amendments.
2. Matters arising
The Chief Executive noted that there had been no dramatic fall off in donations after the implementation of the policy of deferring people as blood donors who had cumulatively resided in the UK for 1 year or more.
It was suggested that a presentation on the 2003 NHO Annual Report might take place at the February 2005 Board meeting.
Bacteriological Screening of Pooled Platelets took place week commencing December 6th in the NBC.
The IOD workshop on Governance will take place on the same day as the January Board meeting from 9am to 12.30pm, Wednesday January 12th 2004. Mr Kelly emphasised the importance of the workshop and encouraged Board members to attend.
Fourteen focus groups have been meeting in response to the Employee Climate Survey. The focus groups are to submit two recommendations, which the Business Review Group will prioritise for action in 2005.
A number of comments and suggestions have been taken on board in the re-drafting of the Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan will be presented to Board at the scheduled meeting on January 12th 2004.
It is expected that phase 1 and 2 of the Cork Centre development will be completed by December 17th 2004.
3. Correspondence
The various items of correspondence, which had been circulated to Board members, were noted.
4. Code of Conduct for Board Members
This item is deferred to the New Year.
5. Chief Executives Report
The report was noted.
The Board approved the provision of the 1 million overdraft facility from Allied Irish Banks.
The Chief Executive (CE), National Medical Director (NMD) and Senior Executive Officer (SEO) left the meeting at this stage during which the Board discussed personnel/management issues. The CE, NMD and SEO rejoined the meeting after the discussion.
Internal Auditors Report on Compensation for IBTS product
In light of media comments in relation to compensation from commercial companies for IBTS product in the past, the Board invited the Internal Auditor to brief them on his investigation into the matter. After some discussion on the report and accompanying press release, the Board noted that the sale of such product was not current practice and that it was important to reassure donors and the general public of the value and necessity of blood donations going forward. It was agreed that the donor consent forms, as well as the waiver forms for research institutions who might receive IBTS product, needed to be reviewed.
The Board also noted the request by the Tánaiste, Mary Harney TD, for an in-depth investigation into the matter and will be briefing the Tánaiste early in the New Year. It was agreed that a further Press Release should be issued in this regard and that the NMD would make himself available for interview on the matter if requested to do so.
Items 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 were deferred to the next meeting.
11. Date of Next Meeting
There will be a special meeting of the Board on Tuesday December 14th 2004 in the NBC at 2pm.
Signed:
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.. Date:
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