Isle of Man: Manx Care given £1.86m to tackle waiting lists

Manx Care’s CEO Teresa Cope says the workforce was "impacted by staff absence"

The Treasury has approved £1.86m of funding for Manx Care to tackle waiting list backlogs.

The health body will use the money to employ NHS partner Medefer to provide 10,000 virtual consultations.

It will also fund 18-Week Support to provide extra consultants, surgeons and nurses to deliver around 2,500 endoscopy and cataract procedures.

Manx Care CEO Teresa Cope said they would "target those who have been waiting the longest".

She said an increase in community coronavirus infections meant there was "high levels of staff absence across the board."

There are currently more than 1,700 active cases of the virus in the community.

Ms Cope said Manx Care was aiming to maintain their "usual activity levels" by bringing in additional staff.

While Medefer's appointments will be virtual, consultants will be able to arrange any necessary tests on the Isle of Man and organise follow-up appointments.

Manx Care Director of Operations Oliver Radford said the health service was seeing "winter levels of demand, but in the summer" which was possibly due to Covid-19 restrictions being lifted.

Demand on the Emergency Department is up by 40% this year while pressures on the Manx Emergency Doctor Service is up 60%, he said.

The extra services are due to be in operation from September until March 2022.