KENNY PAYS TRIBUTE TO IRISH BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICE

Posted on March 14, 2012 5:29 PM   |   Permanent Link   

The Government has approved the drafting of legislation to transfer responsibility for the procurement of clotting factor concentrate products from the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) to St James's Hospital, where the National Haemophilia Centre is based. I would like to pay tribute to the IBTS and the people who worked for that service. I was for many years a blood donor to the service.

The Department of Health, St James's and the HSE have reached an agreement on the transfer arrangements for the products, which are used in the treatment of haemophilia and other clotting factor disorders.

The Irish Haemophilia Society supports this change. Legislation will be drafted as a priority, allowing the new arrangements to commence, which will result in a more streamlined system of procurement for the products and will also achieve significant financial savings for the health budget in relation to their purchase.

Clotting factor concentrates for the treatment of people with haemophilia, von
Willebrand disease, and other inherited bleeding disorders are essential, life-saving medicines that are expensive and complicated to manufacture.

Procurement of factor concentrates can help to ensure that people with inherited bleeding disorders have access to treatment which is not only sufficient in quantity, but also meets the required standards in relation to safety, efficacy, and quality.

I am not an expert on blood borne diseases, and I doubt many in this House are.

In Ireland a Haemophilia Product Selection and Monitoring Advisory Group (HPSMAB) was established on an ad hoc basis in 2001 to advise on the national tender for the purchase of factor concentrates. This group was set up on a statutory basis in 2005 and is currently operating under a draft statutory instrument and detailed terms of reference. The contract holder for the purchase of factor concentrates is the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, which issues the call to tender and receives the tender documents. It is intended that this will change over to St James's Hospital, where the National Haemophilia Centre is located.

The mandate here is to advise on the selection and monitoring on all plasma-derived products used in the treatment of haemophilia, Von Willebrand disease, and other inherited blood deficiencies. This group decides on the amount of products to be purchased and the award criteria to be used in the evaluation of tenders. Following receipt of the tenders, the group meets and evaluates the tenders based on the specified award criteria, and then recommends which products to purchase. The group also advises on monitoring the product used, on delivery, tracing, and recall procedures.

Membership consists of the national haemophilia director, two additional consultant haematologists, two representatives from the Irish Haemophilia Society, a representative from the contract holder, a transfusion medicine expert, a representative from the Irish Medicines Board, (the national licensing authority), a representative from the Department of Health and Children, and a virologist (with expertise in blood-borne infectious diseases). The group also includes the external reviewer of the National Centre for Hereditary Coagulation Disorders and an external adviser to the Irish Haemophilia Society. The group is appointed by the Minister for Health & Children for a renewable term of five years.

The tender process is normally for a period of two years. Tenders follow the EU procurement rules and are in line with the terms of reference of the Haemophilia Product Selection and Monitoring Advisory Group. A call for tenders is issued in the official journal of the European Community. Prior to the call for tender, the award criteria are decided by the HPSMAB and these criteria are listed in the tender documents.