Tynwald rejects bid to rewrite Manx Care's mandate

Members agreed to a full audit of Manx Care's functions

Tynwald members have rejected a bid to rewrite the mandate given to the Isle of Man's healthcare provider for the coming year.

Former Health and Social Care Minister Lawrie Hooper brought forward a motion requesting an updated mandate and operating plan for Manx Care.

While that was rejected, members did agree to a full audit, proposed by MHK Julie Edge, into the value for money of all Manx Care's functions.

David Ashford's proposal, to consider how the government finances third sector organisations delivering essential health and care services, was also supported.

Lawrie Hooper had proposed a rewriting of Manx Care's Mandate and Operating Plan

Opening the seven-hour debate, Hooper argued that Manx Care's mandate was a "huge assault on front-line services" and one which was "putting people at risk".

Echoing those views, Joney Faragher said the document focused "heavily on short-term cost savings" but did not account for the "higher long-term costs" created by not doing preventative work.

MLC Tanya August-Phillips said the mandate and operating plan looked like "unfinished documents".

She warned pushing for quick savings would lead to a reduction in services.

But fellow MLC Gary Clueit suggested that, if an increased budget was not possible, one way to avoid cutting front-line services would be for the mandate for non-front line service provision to be "paired back".

Responding to comments made by Hooper that there were inconsistencies between the mandate and the operating plan, Health and Social Care Minister Claire Christian insisted that the two documents "align and are open and transparent".

The overarching objective was "clear", she said, namely to provide "safe and appropriate" healthcare as close to home as possible, which is "robustly governed and represent[s] good value for money".

Chief Minister Alfred Cannan said Manx Care needed to remain within budget for "the greater good of our island economy".

He added: "We have to ask ourselves whether the public want or are willing to simply pay higher taxation for healthcare services when they do not believe they are receiving the healthcare services that they should be expecting."