In Tynwald on the 21st January (last week) the Minister for Health, the Hon Claire Christian MHK (Douglas South) stated that there would be no service cuts forthcoming when she was being questioned about Manx Care funding and potential strike action.
“As far as I am aware no services are under threat”
“At this current time, I am aware that there are no further cuts.”
Claire Christian MHK, DHSC Minister – Tynwald January 21st 2025
However, patient stories have been coming to light over the last week that have made me, and others, question whether this statement was entirely accurate.
The government was given the chance by Ms Faragher MHK (Douglas East) to answer an urgent question in the House of Keys on Tuesday asking whether there were any service cuts happening. Unfortunately the Minister was unable to answer as she was suddenly taken ill and there were no other government politicians (neither a Department Member or another Minister) willing to answer the question.
To try and gather some more information I posted on social media asking for any first hand experiences of any service cuts and since then I have been contacted by a number of people sharing their own stories of surgeries being cancelled, or that their operation would have to be rebooked “in the new financial year” or “after April”. A few of these comments are reproduced (anonymised) below:
“MCALS told me they had no information about my surgery and couldn’t comment”
“[The UK Hospital] told me they couldn’t book my surgery, even though they had available slots and to contact them again after April”
“We were told [by UK hospital] no patients from the Island were coming over from the end of January due to funding”
I have also seen information that shows Manx Care have already instructed staff that there have been reductions in on-Island surgical lists, that some surgeons lists have gone completely and for the others it is “day cases” only, as those who need overnight beds wont be accommodated.
There still has been no official word from the government on these cuts.
Perhaps because I am asking these questions, a press release that was apparently sent out to the media on January 15th has fallen into my possession – a week before the statements were made by the Minister to Tynwald about there being “no cuts”. This press release was embargoed, and it would appear it remains so, which is why it wont have been reported on by any of our media outlets.
Whilst I haven’t had this document from an official source, I have no reason to believe it is anything other than the genuine article and it does follow the usual pattern of government press releases. The cuts the press release describes seem to tally with first hand patient stories which further reinforces my belief that this is genuine. I am sure that our media organisations can verify that the press release is genuine and the timeline is correct.
- If this was sent to the media two weeks ago, why has the government not told anyone about these cuts?
- Why are patients being left entirely in the dark, or in limbo, not knowing what is happening to their own care?
- What are the impacts on patients and on waiting lists?
- How much money are they really hoping to save?
- And why did the Minister tell Tynwald, categorically, that there were not going to be any service cuts, even though this was clearly already underway?
The government has a lot of questions to answer
Copy of embargoed press release
Lawrie Hooper MHK 