HEALTH Minister David Anderson MHK told the House of Keys this week that he did not ‘currently expect to announce any cutbacks in health services’.
Replying to a question from Douglas East MHK Brenda Cannell, the Minister said that the Department of Health had been able to ‘continue to update and improve services’.
This included the imminent introduction of chlamydia screening and the creation of a renal satellite unit in Ramsey.
Meanwhile, he said the department’s review of eligibility criteria for prescription charges and dental charges was ‘at a very advanced stage’ and he hoped to place it before the Council of Ministers in the ‘very near future’.
He said: ‘I cannot, of course, prejudice Council’s consideration of that review and it would be inappropriate for me to provide any further details at this stage.’
Mrs Cannell asked Mr Anderson to give an assurance that any changes would be subject to public consultation and input from Tynwald.
Mr Anderson replied that the matter would be for the CoMin to determine.
In response to a further question from Mrs Cannell, Mr Anderson said there were no plans to abandon prescription charges, as had been the case in Wales and Scotland.
‘We are in a difficult financial situation,’ he said.
‘It’s quite alarming to hear the suggestion put forward.’
The Minister admitted there had been a ‘massive leap’ in the amount of money spent on locums at Noble’s Hospital between the year ending March 2008 and 2009, and ‘further step rises in successive years’.
In response to a question from Douglas South MHK Kate Beecroft (LibVan) he said figures showed that the DoH had spent £857,498.48 on locums for the year ending March 2008, £2,512,216 in 2009, £3,238,858 in 2010, £3,696,490 in 2011 and £3,857,652 in 2012.
Mr Anderson explained the rise, saying: ‘This is because of particular problems we have experienced in recruiting specialty grade doctors and in obtaining sufficient F1 and F2 doctors in training [foundation doctors] to cover our requirements.
‘Fortunately, this UK-wide problem is now showing some slight signs of easing, although there is still a long way to go.’
Mr Anderson said there was currently one locum who had been employed for more than one year, saying it had ‘not proved possible to recruit into that specialty’ due to a UK national problem in recruitment.
However, he was unable to provide figures on the numbers of locums employed in the health services in each of the past five years broken down by area of clinical practice, nor the current average costs of each locum per week.
