Appointment of Non-Executive Members to the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service
Date published:
Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt has announced the appointment of two Non-Executive Members to the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service (NIBTS).

Noel Brady has been appointed as a Non-Executive (Finance) Member and Bernadette Lunney as a Non-Executive (Lay) Member. Both appointments will commence on 1 October 2024 and will end on a date not later than 30 September 2028.
NIBTS Non-Executive Member positions attracts remuneration of £3,294 per annum with a time commitment of 20 days per annum.
These appointments are made in accordance with the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland.
NIBTS supplies all hospitals and clinical units in Northern Ireland with safe and effective blood and blood products and other related services. The service is committed to the care and welfare of voluntary blood donors. NIBTS is an independent Special Agency of the Department and is responsible for the collection, testing and distribution of over 55,000 blood donations each year. It operates three mobile teams at nearly 180 locations throughout the region. Including headquarters, located adjacent to the Belfast City Hospital, a total of almost 800 donation sessions are held each year.
The Board of NIBTS comprises 5 Members: a Non-Executive Chair, 3 Non-Executive Members and the Chief Executive.
Notes to editors:
- Noel Brady is a well-known and respected business leader who has held senior roles in both the public and private sectors in Northern Ireland for over 45 years. He has acted as an adviser and mentor for senior people in a wide range of industries. He has also become known as a unique specialist in public sector finance and tendering with almost 40 years in-depth experience in this area. He has served on numerous Boards and is a former Belfast Harbour Commissioner and Non-Executive (Finance) Director with the South-Eastern HSC Trust. He is a Fellow with the IoD and an Honorary Fellow of the Sales Institute of Ireland. Mr. Brady has current roles in the public, voluntary and private sectors. In the public sector, he is Chairman of the Construction Industry Training Board in Northern Ireland. This position attracts an annual remuneration of £20,059 and has a time commitment of approximately 6 days per month. In the voluntary sector he is a Trustee with the HMS Caroline Trust. In the private sector, he is the Owner/Director of the consultancy business Nb1 and Chairman of the Continu Group of companies. Mr. Brady graduated from Ulster University with a Higher National Certificate in Public Administration and a BA Degree in Business Studies.
- Bernadette Lunney is a Change and Continuous Improvement expert with over 30 years of successful operational and strategic change delivery in local government and healthcare in the UK. She has received recognition from central government for her improvement work and was asked to pilot the development of national policy around welfare benefits. She was instrumental in improvement ratings whilst in local government and in healthcare in diverse areas such as Welfare Benefits, governance and use of resources and regulatory functions. Ms Lunney has Chaired audit and risk committees, and supported elected members at Islington Council, and led tenant and advocacy forums in London. She set up and Chaired the first ever Regulatory Forum for Healthcare Regulators in the UK. Ms Lunney has led on corporate performance assessments in high profile councils and healthcare regulators. She currently sits as an independent member on the Fermanagh & Omagh Policing and Community Safety Partnership and Area Integrated Partnership Board.
- Appointments to NIBTS are made by the Minister of Health.
- All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland requires the political activity of appointees to be published. Mr Brady has declared that he has not engaged in any political activity in the past five years. Ms Lunney has declared that she has held office in a local branch of Sinn Fein and that she has also canvassed or helped at elections on behalf of this party during the past five years.
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