14th July 2004 - Board Minutes
Minutes of the Board meeting of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service held on Wednesday 14th July, 2004 at 2.00 pm
Boardroom, National Blood Centre, Jamess Street, Dublin 8
Present:
Ms Maura McGrath (Chairperson)
Mr Sean Wyse
Ms Valerie Mannix
Mr Tony McNamara
Dr Liz Keane
Mr David Lowe
Dr Cees Van Der Poel
Mr David Keenan
Apologies:
Dr Helen Enright
Dr Mary Horgan
Dr Gerry Crotty
In Attendance: Mr Andrew Kelly (CE)
Dr William Murphy (NMD)
Ms. Patricia McNally (Secretary)
The Chairperson opened the meeting and informed the Board that a press conference to launch the Annual Report for 2003 had taken place this morning. She also said that she had taken the opportunity to acknowledge the commitment of donors to patient care. A copy of the report was circulated to all members of the Board. The Chief Executive noted that this was the first year the report was bilingual, in compliance with the Official Languages Act 2003. The Chairperson asked the Chief Executive to congratulate the Communications Manager on the report.
1. Minutes of Previous Meeting held on 15.06.2004
The minutes of the Board meeting held on Wednesday 12th May 2004 were adopted on the proposal of Mr. S. Wyse, seconded by Ms. V. Mannix and signed by the Chairperson subject to agreed amendments.
2. Matters arising
eProgesa
The Chief Executive informed the meeting that the Senior Management Team had agreed to the implementation of eProgesa. This will cost approximately 2 million over 2 years with .5m in 2004.
The Project will take approximately eighteen months. Contracts are being drawn up at present so that the implementation can commence.
NAT Testing
The Chief Executive confirmed the NAT Testing of all products would commence in the IBTS on Monday 19th July. It was noted that the last shipment of samples shipped to the SNBTS would be on Friday 16th July. A contingency plan will be signed with the SNBTS to act as a backup until December 2005.
2nd Consultant Haematologist in Cork
The Chief Executive noted that a proposal had been sent to Comhairle na nOispideal regarding the restructuring of this post. The restructuring had been approved by the Applications Committee of Comhairle and will now be considered by the full meeting of Comhairle on 21st July. We await a letter of support from University College Cork to finalise the restructuring.
3. Correspondence
A letter from Dr. Crotty was noted. It was agreed that the Chairperson would write to Dr. Crotty and assure him that all decisions taken at MAC meetings were done with adequate Consultant medical input.
4. Chief Executive Report
The report was noted.
The Regional Director and the National Quality Assurance Manager will attend the September meeting to update the Board on the Patient Outcome Analysis project.
The Chief Executive noted the launch of a 12-minute information video for the schools programme.
The Strategic Plan will be presented to the Board at the September meeting.
5. Donor Notification Issue
6. Development of Cork Centre
It was noted that the prefabricated building has been constructed and is currently in the process of being fitted out. The Chief Executive informed the meeting that a week on the project had been lost due to concern about the possible existence of asbestos in the cottages. It was subsequently discovered that there was no asbestos of any significance. It is hoped to make up this lost week during the rest of the fitting out phase and laboratories should be operational by mid September. Funding for the new centre was receiving some media attention. This is to be an item for discussion with the Minister for Health & Children at the meeting on 15th July.
7. Organisation Development Programme
The Chief Executive gave a presentation to the Board on proposed restructuring of work / roles in the IBTS. The Board endorsed the proposals but requested the Chief Executive to revise the Organisational Chart to ensure greater clarity on the management of the functions in the Cork centre. It was noted that the Chief Executive would be meeting with all managers in mid-August to discuss the new structure.
8. Audit Committee
The minutes of the Audit Committee meeting of 7th January 2004 were noted. Ms. Mannix thanked Mr. McNamara for his time as Chair of the Audit Committee. Ms. Mannix presented the Annual Report of the Audit Committee and recommended that the Chairperson should sign the letter on Internal Financial Controls.
The Chief Executive informed the meeting that following recent interviews for an Internal Auditor, an offer had been made to one candidate, who has accepted but has yet to agree a commencement date. Mr. Noel Murphy, Acting Director of Finance, confirmed that three companies are in the process of tendering for the contract to draft a Risk Register for the IBTS, which will be validated by the newly appointed Internal Auditor.
Mr. N. Murphy gave a presentation to the meeting on the Financial Statements for 2003. It was agreed that Mr. N. Murphy would attend the September Board meeting to present a review of the financial results for the first six months of 2004. It was also agreed that the Director of Finance would attend the February 2005 meeting to present the initial review of the financial statements for 2004. The Chief Executive thanked Mr. N. Murphy for his work as Acting Director of Finance and this was endorsed by the Board.
9. Pension Review
Mr. D. Lowe noted that the Pension Review Committee had met four times with AON Consulting in relation to carrying out a review of the current pension scheme. He outlined the main elements of the proposal which were contained in the document that had been circulated with the Board papers. The Board agreed to the proposals and authorised the Chief Executive to commence negotiations with unions / representative bodies to affect the change to the pension scheme.
10. Health & Safety Statement
The Parent Safety Statement was noted.
11. Minutes of MAC Meeting 12th May 2004
The minutes were noted.
12. Assessment of Exposure to BSE Infectivity In Ireland DNV Consulting.
The report was noted. The Chief Executive confirmed that this report had been discussed by the MAC.
13. Any Other Business
Board Governance
The Chairperson thanked Ms. V. Mannix for acting as Chair while she was on annual leave. The Chairperson noted that there was no Board meeting scheduled for August but suggested that should the need arise, she would contact two members of the Board to discuss any issues of concern and they could decide if the Board needed to be recalled. Dr. Keane and Mr. Wyse agreed to be the contact persons.
14. Date of next meeting
The next meeting of the IBTS Board is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 8th September 2004, at 2pm in the NBC.
Signed: . .. Date: .
