Glenfaba and Peel MHK Kate Lord-Brennan has called for Hospice Isle of Man and third-sector health organisations to receive funding directly from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), rather than through Manx Care.
Moving an amendment in Tynwald, Ms Lord-Brennan argued that palliative care is a “moral responsibility” and should not be treated as a “standard operational service” under Manx Care’s “competing priorities.”
She stated: “Funding for Hospice is routed via Manx Care, as if palliative care were one of many in a long list of commissioned provisions,” adding “this approach fails to recognise the uniqueness, sensitivity, of palliative and end-of-life care.”
Highlighting Hospice’s community-funded model, she noted that only 27% of its income comes from government, with the rest raised through donations.
Their work is truly humbling and heartening and needs our direct interest,” she said, urging funding to be “handled directly by government.
Ms Lord-Brennan emphasised the need for political oversight, saying: “Sometimes a political response is required for important causes and principles, and this can be it, honourable members.”
She added that Hospice should not be “treated as a line item in a commissioning document, but as a core partner in public care”.
The proposal would adjust Manx Care’s budget to reflect DHSC-directed funding. “We owe it to our community to do better,” Lord-Brennan concluded.
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