The cuts enacted to elective surgeries and other areas of the health service will result in growing waiting lists in other areas, the health minister has told Tynwald.
Lawrie Hooper was very clear in stating he believes Manx Care saying it had no other choices given it being millions over budget/under funded.
Addressing questions from members, Mr Hooper said the cuts are “very much short term measures that we all accept will have an impact long term”.
Replying to a question from former health minister David Ashford, he added that “sometimes and often short term savings will cost more in the long run”.
Mr Ashford had asked whether the cuts that were being made would just result in people turning up in other areas of the health service, such as A&E.
He said: “In terms of whether these changes in these cuts will result in people presenting elsewhere within the system, again, that is quite likely.
“But what isn’t going to happen is those other parts of the system aren’t going to be aren’t going to be resourced to cover for it.
“So essentially, waiting lists where those people present will get longer. Again, this shouldn’t be rocket science, this should not be news to anyone.”
Nature of the beast
Mr Hooper added that the results of cuts to front line services “is the nature of the beast”.
He said: “When you decide you are going to make cuts in order to save money, cuts to affect services that will actually affect patients, there will inevitably be knock on consequences everywhere else in the system.
“And that is why I have been clear from the outset, Manx Care are doing this because they really have no room to manoeuvre. They have very few options available to them.”
Funding
Mr Hooper was also clear in telling members he does believe that Manx Care remains underfunded and that it was only acting after “the communications [that] came from on high”, that being the Chief Minister effectively ordering Manx Care to make cuts.
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