Health minister targets efficiency to balance Manx Care's budget

Manx Care is predicting a further overspend for the 2023-24 financial year

Efforts to balance Manx Care's budget will focus on efficiency rather than trying to reduce overall costs, the health minister has said.

Tynwald received the health provider's annual report for 2022-23 alongside a Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) performance assessment.

Some MHKs raised concerns about Manx Care's budgeting and a lack of data over the cost and value of services.

Mr Hooper said funding remained the health service's "biggest challenge".

He said it was disappointing that Manx Care posted an £8.8m overspend for last financial year, but he praised a cost saving programme that had saved £10m.

Manx Care was first created in April 2021 to run the island's health and social care services, with the DHSC setting annual health policies and targets.

Waiting lists

Recent estimates suggest Manx Care is on course to post another deficit of £27.2m in the current financial year, with chief executive Teresa Cope stating budgets were not at recommended levels.

Mr Hooper told Tynwald that auditors had examined the health system and found funds were spent "reasonably well", but there were not opportunities to make "million of pounds worth of savings" by cutting budgets.

Future efforts to balance finances would focus on "driving efficiencies to get more value out of money we spend, and make services cheap on a per patient basis", he added.

David Ashford MHK said the use of an additional £18m to operate on more patients had reduced waiting lists, but questioned whether "throwing a lot of money at the problem" was sustainable.

Mr Hooper said he was confident waiting times were more manageable, but could creep up should a "significant hike in inflation or other significant budgetary issue" arise.

Juan Watterson SHK said it was "impossible to tell" from Manx Care's annual report and the DHSC assessment whether the public was getting "the right service at the right price".

Information on the value and cost of service was not being presented clearly, he added.

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