9th October 2002 - Board Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held on Wednesday 9th October 2002 at 2pm
Boardroom, National Blood Centre, Jamess Street, Dublin 8
Present: Mr Michael McLoone (Chairman)
Mr Tony McNamara
Dr Mary Horgan
Dr Ann OConnor
Dr Liz Keane
Dr Gerry Crotty
Dr Helen Enright
Apologies: Mr Pat Farrell,
Dr Karen Murphy
Ms Maura McGrath
In Attendance: Mr Andrew Kelly (Acting CEO)
Dr William Murphy (NMD)
Mr Michael Healy (SEO)
Minutes
i Minutes of Meeting of 11.09.02
The Minutes of the Board Meeting held on Wednesday 11th September 2002 were adopted on the proposal of Dr M Horgan, seconded by Mr T McNamara and signed by the Chairman, subject to agreed amendments.
ii Minutes of Meeting 18.09.02
The Minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday September 18th were adopted on the proposal of Dr M Horgan, seconded by Dr L Keane and signed by the Chairman.
Matters Arising from Minutes 11.09.02
The A/CEO, SEO and NMD left the meeting for item number 3 on the agenda.
Filling of CEO Post
The Board agreed to initiate the process of filling the post of CEO. Details and qualifications of the post and the options for recruiting consultants, will be brought to the Board on November 13th 2002.
Correspondence
HSEA letter re Performance Related Awards
The A/CEO agreed to collate the necessary information from the Health Boards and Government Departments as to the operation of the Performance Related Scheme, so as to devise a template for the IBTS to operate from.
b. Letter from President of UCC
The letter from the UCC President was noted. Mr T McNamara welcomed the opportunity for increased collaboration between the SHB, IBTS and UCC, as outlined in the letter. It was agreed that the ACEO would consult with the NMD to consider how best to respond, and to meet to discuss opportunities for future collaboration with the relevant personnel.
CEOs Report
This was noted. The ACEO informed the Board that the Partnership Information Workshop, scheduled for October 16th would be deferred to a later date, as it had emerged that the IMB would be carrying out an inspection in the Cork Centre at that time.
In a recent letter from the SHB, the ACEO noted that the SHB, at its meeting of October 7th 2002, had accepted the full recommendations of the Report of the Review Panel on Testing of Blood for Transfusion, called on the Minister DoHC to provide necessary funding and, approved a suitable site for the new centre on the CUH campus.
Organisational Development & Change (Verbal Report)
It was agreed that the proposed special meeting of the Board on October 18th would be deferred to November 1st.
It was noted that the ACEO was meeting HRS Consultants on Thursday 10th October and that the OD Process should re-commence as soon as possible with a meeting of the Medical Consultant staff.
7. Considerations of the recommendations contained in the report of the Report of the Expert Group set up to review the decision to centralise donation testing in the NBC.
The ACEO briefed the Board on the discussion paper presented on the report of the expert group. He informed the Board that he had met with some IBTS staff in the NBC and the Cork centre.
A letter from the DoHC and accompanying letter from the IMB, was presented to the Board.
The Chairman requested the ACEO to contact Professor Zuck, to seek clarification in writing, on the apparent contradictions in the expert report, as outlined in the correspondence from the DoHC and IMB. He also suggested that other issues raised by the DoHC and Dept of Finance, should be brought to Professor Zucks attention.
It was agreed that the ACEO would ask Professor Zuck to provide supplementary information setting out the Medical & Scientific Rationale for the recommendation in regard to testing. It was felt that this information would be required by the Dept of Finance and would help in obtaining the necessary funding.
It was agreed that the views of Professor Zuck, the DoHC and Dept of Finance and their implications, would be helpful, before concluding the Cork brief. It was also agreed that the evaluation of the sites should be completed.
It was agreed that the ACEO would contact the DoHC, clarifying if the planned funding for the NAT Laboratory in Dublin is available. This was in response to whether the IBTS should continue with the development of the Laboratory in the NBC. It was agreed that NAT Testing should be established in the proposed new centre for Cork rather than on the existing site.
It was agreed that the IBTS Finance department would draw up an analysis of the cost of Single Site NAT testing and Dual Site NAT testing. This information would be required to respond to queries that might come from the Department of Finance.
The Board noted the various concerns regarding the report expressed in the discussion paper. The Board will be preparing a formal response to the report and intends to clarify, that certain issues in the report, relate to historical information only.
The Board noted that that the ISO 9000 accreditation is not a product standard and therefore is not applicable in defining a standard for testing in laboratories.
It was agreed that the Board will examine the report and the implications of implementing the recommendations over the coming months, with a view to making a formal recommendation to the Minister early in the New Year.
8. Minutes of MAC July 10th 2002
These were noted.
Dr Horgan also briefed the Board on the MAC meeting of September 28th 2002. It was suggested that an updated vCJD workshop would be held in the New Year, most likely March 2002. It was noted that the deferral policy is monitored on an ongoing basis. The ACEO stated that, although the 1-Year deferral policy has not as yet been implemented, it had been agreed by the vCJD group, that the main focus of attention should be on blood for neonates. It was also noted that persons who have previously received transfusions outside Ireland will be deferred in the coming weeks. Dr Horgan requested an update on what measures have been taken in the past year regarding the threat posed by vCJD.
The MAC also discussed its role and decision making. The MAC members felt that the resource implications of its recommendations did not come within its brief and more likely a matter for the Executive. There had, at times, been some confusion with regard to the procedure for MAC recommendations coming to Board and the distinction between the function of the MAC, the IBTS Medical Consultants and the Executive. It was understood that HRS Consultants will be meeting with the MAC and will work through some practical examples of the methodology and outcomes of MAC recommendations.
9. A.O.B.
It was proposed and agreed that Dr K Murphy would replace Ms V Mannix on the Finance Committee. Dr A OConnor agreed to sit on the Finance Committee in the event that Dr K Murphy was unable to attend.
The appointment of Dr L Keane onto the Cork Project Team was proposed by Dr M Horgan, seconded by Mr T McNamara and agreed by the Board.
The special meeting of the Board of October 18th 2002, has been deferred to November 1st 2002 at 11.30am in the NBC.
Signed:___________________________ Date:___________________________
The next Monthly Board Meeting to be held at 2.00pm on Wednesday, 13th of November, 2002 at the National Blood Centre.
