Manx Care insists it has no plans to close the Manx Emergency Doctors Services (MEDS) after concerns were raised by an MHK. Chief Minister Alfred Cannan, who is currently also acting Health and Social Care Minister, shared documents with MHKs just before the House of Keys sitting this week which outlines the £24m of potential savings identified of which £12m has been approved.

Despite this, Manx Care still has to save a further £6m-8m which led to the controversial decision to reduce elective surgery to save £220,000.

Mr Cannan was responding to a question from Onchan MHK Julie Edge who asked what modelling has been undertaken by Manx Care and if he will publish this.

However, within the document are proposals to close down the Manx Emergency Doctors Services (MEDS) which would save £500,000 which has worried Ms Edge.

She said: ‘There is nothing ongoing as to what will happen with MEDS and I am alarmed by the information you (Mr Cannan) have sent today that you would save £500,000 to close MEDS and I’m really concerned because that’s the out-of-hours doctor’s surgery for the people of the Isle of Man.

‘I want some reassurances from the minister today that he is going to look really carefully about the biggest impact to patients here and make sure those services do not close down and we can access doctors, dentists, etc, at the right and appropriate time.’

However, Manx Care has since moved to quash any concerns over the future of the service.

In a statement, it said: ‘In response to recent coverage, Manx Care has no plans to close the MEDS service at this time.

‘In early September Manx Care was instructed by the then Minister for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to identify how it could achieve financial balance in this financial year beyond the savings that had already been agreed by the Manx Care Board.

‘On September 17, 2024, Manx Care submitted a confidential document to the DHSC detailing how a further £4 million of savings could be achieved in this year.

‘The temporary closure of MEDS was on that list, which would save £550k for the final six months of the year.

‘Many of these schemes on that confidential list, including the temporary closure of MEDS had been considered and rejected by the Manx Care Board as not palatable, on the grounds that these schemes have a high adverse impact on the quality and provision of patient care and patient and service user experience.

‘However, Manx Care would commit to implement these schemes and monitor their impact if mandated to do so by the DHSC and Council of Ministers.’

During the Keys sitting, Mr Cannan said he will be looking at what has been discussed with the department and what their current proposals are.

He added: ‘I want to be clear that we all want to protect the service delivery but also I must say the answer to some of these problems lies in the positioning of the mandate and the relationship with Manx Care and how that is conducted.

‘The department considers the objectives of Manx Care are achievable when considering the total financial picture. A lot of operational decisions are entrusted to Manx Care, they are not political decisions.’

Other measures Manx Care are taking include putting off non-urgent off-island procedures until the next financial year, a pause on all non-essential recruitment. keeping Ramsey’s Minor Injuries Unit closed at weekends, and changing out-of-hours on-call arrangements in adult social work.