Manx Care to take over running of southern GP practice next month

The practice will become a salaried GP practice run by Manx Care

The management of a GP surgery in the south of the Isle of Man is set to be taken over by Manx Care on an interim basis from next month.

Ballasalla Medical Centre had previously been due to end its contract with the healthcare body in July.

However, it has been confirmed that contract will formally cease at the end of April, when it will become a salaried GP practice run by Manx Care.

The decision was confirmed at the health provider's latest board meeting.

The practice, which was struggling with staffing pressures, had already removed patients who were not within the catchment area for the surgery from its register.

'Maintain service levels'

Member for the Department of Health and Social Care, Michelle Haywood, told the House of Keys Manx Care had been "quite clear that this is an interim decision which allows them to keep services going at the moment".

The take-over would enable the healthcare body to "maintain service levels at least equivalent to where we are now", she said.

Dr Haywood said although there had been some expressions of interest in running the services, there "hasn't been the time to sort that out".

She said she anticipated the existing staff would be asked "whether they wished to stay on in the interim or in the longer term".

"This is really a step that allows us to guarantee that there is service provision there, and the details will be something that get worked out over the next few months," she added.

A Manx Care spokeswoman said although the news "may cause some uncertainty", the decision would "ensure that service provision continues to run as smoothly as possible".

"Patients should see no change to the services they receive, and should continue to access these as normal," she added.

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