Fair model for social care funding on Isle of Man sought

Options for reforming social care funding on the island were set out in 2018

Any changes to the funding of social care on the Isle of Man "have to work for everybody", the health minister has said.

A review of how it could be paid for is currently being carried out by the government.

Lawrie Hooper said any future tax or co-payment arrangement should not "disproportionately" burden any one group of people.

It comes after MPs in the UK backed a new cap on care costs on Monday.

Population projections have previously shown the number of people over the age of 65 on the island was expected to continue to grow between 2016 and 2036.

In July 2018, the Council of Ministers laid out six models which could be adopted for social care funding, although none have yet been implemented.

Lawrie Hooper said he favoured a "universal national health and care service"

Mr Hooper, who took the helm at the Department of Health and Social Care in October, said it was an issue he wanted to "push on" with.

As part of his new role, he is set to become chairman of a cross-department board looking at social care funding, which he said had "not progressed as much as I would like" before now.

The "bulk of the work" of the board would be figuring out how the care could be paid for, and any solution would need the support of the public before it could be backed by Tynwald, he added.

Mr Hooper said he believed the public should be able to access care without "having to worry about pulling out a credit card or selling a house, or whatever it may be".

"My view is social care should be treated the same way as we treat the national health service, in that we need a universal national health and care service that covers us from cradle to grave," he added.