Culture change needed in Manx health service, BMA says

Philip Banfield visited the island to meet doctors and senior health officials

A change in culture is needed within the Isle of Man's health service, the British Medical Association has said.

It follows a survey of doctors working for Manx Care, which found 76% of those taking part did not feel the organisation had a positive culture.

The Culture of Care Barometer survey was designed by the NHS and Kings' College London.

Manx Care said the "development of a healthy culture" would "always be a work in progress".

Of the 161 doctors employed by Manx Care that were sent the survey, 72 took part.

More than 60% said they would not recommend the organisation as a good place to work, while nearly 80% did not think there was strong leadership at the highest level of the organisation.

However, the majority of doctors agreed the people they worked with were friendly, they felt able to ask for help, and could rely on colleagues.

'Ongoing concerns'

Chairman of the British Medical Association council Philip Banfield has visited the island to meet with senior health officials this week in the wake of the survey.

He said the aim of the union was to help doctors become "empowered to change their services for the better".

He said: "Unfortunately we have found ongoing concerns about the culture within Manx care.

"What you can't have is a control and command mechanism that just tells professionals what to do, because these are experts that the patients, and the island needs and you have to have enough of these doctors on the island treated with respect to maintain your health service."

In a statement Manx Care said changing the culture of our organisation would "not happen overnight", but there were "a number of things which tell us that we're moving in the right direction", including feedback from recent Care Quality Commission inspections.

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