20th March 2007 - Board Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held on Tuesday 20th March 2007 at 2.00 p.m. in the Boardroom, National Blood Centre, James's Street, Dublin 8
Present: Mr. Sean Wyse (Acting Chairperson)
Mr. David Keenan
Dr. Margaret Murray
Dr Mary Cahill
Ms. Margaret Mullett
Mr Mark Moran
Mr David Lowe
Dr Cees Van Der Poel
Mr Gerry ODwyer
Apologies: Ms Maura McGrath
Dr Robert Landers
Ms Jane OBrien
Also in attendance: Mr. Andrew Kelly, Chief Executive
Dr William Murphy, National Medical Director
Ms. Mirenda ODonovan, Secretary to the Board
1. Minutes of the meeting of13th February 2007
The minutes of the meeting of 13th February were agreed subject to amendment, proposed by Mr David Keenan and seconded by Mr David Lowe.
The Chairperson had sent her apologies as she was unable to attend the meeting. The Board agreed that Mr Sean Wyse should act as Chairperson.
2. Matters arising
Discussions on the memorandum of understanding defining the role and function of the IBTS and the IMB in relation to the National Haemovigilance Office are still ongoing. The new ER/IR Manager has taken up her appointment.
3. Chief Executives Report
The blood supply for February into March has been strong. The issues of red cells for the first two months of the year are down 4% for the same period in 2006. There has been an increase of 7.5% in the issues of platelets for the same period last year.
The transfer of blood from St Marys Orthopaedic and South Infirmary/ Victoria HospitalsinCorkhas not commenced due to a lack of IT infrastructure in the hospitals concerned.
An agreed Chairman has been invited to Chair the proposed IR Forum. The Forum would lay down specific agreed guidelines for handling IR issues so that issues can be progressed within definitive timelines.
Process mapping in the components laboratories will be concluded by 2/3 April.
In relation to eProgesa there are 75 bugs outstanding. The status of this project will be reviewed and the CE will revert to the Board with a recommendation at the April meeting.
Delays have been encountered in the roll out of the outcomes of the pilot of Phase 1 of the Donation Process Review.
The CE outlined the outcomes of the values workshop. The Board expressed concern at the delays encountered in the implementation of the DPR and how this related to the six organisational values outlined by the CE.
Donor Awards Ceremonies will take place in Carlow on 22nd April and Ardee on 27th May. All Board members are invited to attend.
CUMH
The IBTS has been requested by the General Manager of CUH to supply blood transfusion services on an interim basis to the combined maternity hospital due to open at CUH on 24th March. The CE circulated additional correspondence and explained the background to this issue.
The Board expressed grave concerns that this proposal from CUH could potentially expose the IBTS to serious risk. The merger of 3 hospitals on one site is an extremely complex process. Having the IBTS provide a hospital blood banking service rather than the blood bank on the CUH campus would further complicate the process and could increase the possibility of mistakes being made. The Board has a duty to protect the blood supply and to protect the reputation of the IBTS.
It was agreed that the NMD would go to Cork the following day to assess the situation in CUMH. After his assessment, the NMD would report back to the CE and the Board would reconvene by conference call on Thursday morning to hear the report of the CE/NMD.
Therefore the decision regarding the provision of an interim service to CUMH is deferred, pending the outcome of the NMDs visit to assess the risk at the site and his advice to the Board.
4. CorkCentre
The CE confirmed that the Focus Group Report on a new Centre in Cork has been submitted to the Department of Health and Children. A meeting has been sought with the Minister.
5. Matters Reserved for the Board
The draft schedule of matters reserved for the Board was discussed and a number of amendments proposed. The schedule was agreed subject to those amendments. It was also agreed that the list of delegated matters should be included for completeness and clarity. Revised document to be circulated with the Board papers for April meeting.
6. Presentation on Quality & Compliance by the Director of Quality
The Director of Quality made a presentation to the Board based on the output from the Quality Management System showing comparative statistics for 2005 and 2006. The Board thanked her for her detailed and informative presentation.
9. MAC Meeting 9th January
A research proposal for prion filters has been submitted to the Ethics Committee at CUH and a decision is expected next week. There has been a 4th case of probable transmission of vCJD by blood transfusion in the UK. The MAC requested that the report by Dr Paul Strengers on the NHO be circulated to the MAC. The CE said that the governance arrangements for the NHO is a matter for the Board and he would be bringing proposals to the Board.The MAC have also signed off on KPIs and requested that this be discussed at the next Board meeting.
8. Audit Committee Meeting of2nd August 2006
The Minutes of the meeting inn August were circulated and discussed. The Chairman said that he intended to have much more timely minutes in future.A new Internal Auditor has been appointed. Ms Margaret Mullett had attended her first meeting of the Audit Committee.
10. NMD Presentation on Technical Developments in the Pipeline
The National Medical Director made a presentation on a number of technological projects at various stages of progress in the IBTS. The introduction of a prion filter could have cost implications of between ¬2.5 and ¬15 million per annum, depending on the type of prion filter procured. It was agreed that the Department of Health and Children should be kept informed of progress on this project and that a presentation be made to officials from the DOH&C regarding the cost implications.
The Board reconvened on Thursday 22nd March at11amin the IBTS Boardroom and via conference call.
Present at NBC: Sean Wyse (Acting Chairperson)
Ms Margaret Mullett
Present via Conference call: Ms Maura McGrath
Ms Jane OBrien
Mr Gerry ODwyer
Dr Robert Landers
MrMark Moran
Mr David Lowe
Mr David Keenan
Dr Margaret Murray
Dr Mary Cahill
Dr Cees Van Der Poel
Also in attendance: Mr Andrew Kelly, Chief Executive
Dr William Murphy, National Medical Director
Ms Mirenda ODonovan, Secretary to the Board
The Chairperson confirmed that all in attendance had received Dr Murphys report on CUMH. It was agreed that Dr Murphy would go through the report and then take questions. It was agreed that CUH would be asked to put in place a procedure for a minimum emergency supply in the event of several emergencies occurring at the same time and that this be signed off.
It was agreed that monthly meetings be put in place with senior management in CUMH to ensure that the arrangements put in place are working satisfactorily. It was agreed that an independent expert, sourced by the IBTS be engaged to review the interim arrangements as soon as possible. It was also agreed that a procedure be put in place to audit the arrangements over the 3 month period and that these audits would be available to the IBTS and CUMH management.
Concern was expressed as to how the Board could be assured that arrangements agreed are fully rolled out to frontline staff and that all staff that need training are trained as required by the agreement. CUMH have undertaken to verify that this training has taken place among the 10 senior midwives who would provide 24/7 cover. It was agreed that all staff that may have a role in the delivery of the frontline service would need to be trained in these procedures and that this be included in the terms of the agreement.
The Board agreed to the supply of blood banking services on an interim basis toCorkUniversityMaternityHospitalprovided that a Service Level Agreement including all the points agreed was signed by CUH prior to 12 noon on Saturday 24th March when the hospital is due to open. The Chief Executive will correspond with the General Manager of CUH on matters raised at this meeting.
Date of next meeting
It was agreed that the next meeting of the Board would be held on Thursday 19th April at 2.00pm
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Signed Date
