Manx mental health patient care in UK costs £18m

Annual figures since 2020 have been revealed in a Tynwald written answer

More than £18m has been spent by the Isle of Man government on sending mental health patients to the UK for acute care, new figures have revealed.

The latest figures were outlined by the health minister in a Tynwald written answer to Rushen MHK Juan Watterson.

Claire Christian said 38 people had received off-island treatment since 2020, eight of whom were under the age of 18.

She said these were "highly specialised placements" and included court-ordered prison transfers.

The annual figures show an average of £3.6m is spent year on year on specialist care, with the highest annual spend at £4,131,785 for 2020-21.

In total, £18,468,690 has been spent in the last five years, with £3,643,868 spent in 2024-25.

'Complex placements'

Christian said other admissions included "locked mental health rehabilitation placements, such as after stepping down from low secure forensic wards".

Placements to "specialist perinatal mother and baby units, or placements to specialist eating disorder units" were also included.

The average length of stay for an adult is just short of a year at 322 days, while under 18s have an average stay of 10 days.

The figures show that from 2020 and 2023, six people were sent as a result of a court order or transferred from prison.

From 2023-25, that number rose to seven.

Christian added that people in long term "complex placements" may be counted in more than one year, "therefore the total numbers may be different to the individual number of patients".