The Chief Minister has told the chair of Manx Care that cost savings should be made in ways that least threaten frontline services.
Alf Cannan wrote to Wendy Reid on the same day he also sought dialogue with the British Medical Association over pay demands for doctors.
In his letter to Mrs Reid, Mr Cannan said the financial challenges facing Manx Care, which was recently said to be £16m over budget despite new taxes for islanders and increased funding, are not to be underestimated.
However, he said that he was “pleased to hear that you and the board are responding to the challenge”.
He added: “As you know the Department of Health and Social Care has provided additional support to you in the form of financial and operational specialist expertise to assist with this task and I was encouraged to hear that this support is starting to have a positive effect.
“I look forward to hearing regularly, through the Department’s oversight, how your plans are delivering the savings, not only for this year, but also to allow us to build an operating plan for next year that is financially sustainable within the available budget funding.
“As I said to you in my last letter, I know you will be doing everything you can to make savings in those areas which have the least impact on frontline services.
“This, of course, includes bearing down on executive, management, and administrative costs as far as possible. I understand that you will be considering a full range of ways to do that so that we can provide that assurance to the public about the safeguarding of critical services.”
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