A total of 53 operating theatre sessions have been cancelled at Noble’s Hospital since April 2025, Health Minister Claire Christian has confirmed.
The cancellations were primarily due to surgeon unavailability, which accounted for 38 lost sessions.
Ms Christian told MHKs that the issues have “primarily affected ENT and orthopaedics, where services are actively working to recover the lost sessions”.
In response to questioning from Onchan MHK Julie Edge, the minister acknowledged the patient impact.
ENT
She said, “ENT patients awaiting thyroid treatment have seen a five month increase in waiting time for procedure, whilst the remainder have experienced a two to three month increasing in waiting times.”
Orthopaedics has seen its upper limb service predominantly impacted.
Despite the cancellations, Ms Christian said there have been “significant improvements in theatre utilisation”, with performance at 84.43% against a target of 85%. She said “overall activity year to date is above, is above plan by 40.5%.”
When asked for a recovery plan, Minister Christian said: “Manx care have assured me for today that whilst we remain above plan in year, however, having seen the increase in the waiting times which will have an impact, which have had an impact, these will be recovered by April 2026.”
Julie Edge also requested a breakdown of cancellations by surgical specialty and the associated costs with Ms Christian saying she would provide these at a later date.