Tynwald has rejected a call by a former health minister to rewrite the Manx Care Mandate and operating plan.

But members instead unanimously backed a full value for money audit of Manx Care.

Lawrie Hooper, who resigned as health minster in October in protest at what he believed were the Chief Minister’s ultimate plans to privatise the Manx NHS, described the Mandate and operating plan as ‘inadequate’.

He said they placed an ‘unacceptable reduction in services’ on the people of the island.

Mr Hooper called for both documents - that only came into effect on Aril 1 - to be ‘updated’ to not place such significant restrictions and curtailments on frontline services or see NHS services replaced with private options.

Mr Hooper told Tynwald: ‘In short I would prefer to spend money instead of spending lives.

‘By this I have in mind the inevitable increases in morbidity and mortality, that is illness and death, that will result from people having longer waiting lists, reduced services and crucially unmet need that this Mandate quite openly represents.’

But Chief Minister Alfred Cannan said the operating plan and the Mandate were a ‘considerable step forward in the right direction’.

He said that it was ‘no doubt a challenging Mandate to deliver’.

But he added: ‘We are effectively at a crosswords. I think this government has pumped more money into healthcare than any other government previously.

‘We cannot go on delivering the money for healthcare in the way we have done without recognising healthcare funding will just become so dominant in the Manx economy that we will have little to nothing for other areas or taxation will be at such a level our economy will simple deteriorate before our eyes.’

New MLC Gary Clueit suggested there was scope for rationalising Manx Care’s executive and management organisation, saying it resembled something like a NHS Trust across which would serve far more residents.

Following a debate lasting six hours and 40 minutes, Tynwald rejected Mr Hooper’s motion but agreed to a full audit, proposed by Onchan MHK Julie Edge, into the value for money of all Manx Care's functions.

Ms Edge welcomed the move, describing it as a ‘win for transparency, accountability, and the people who rely on our health service having facts and figures’.

She said: ‘This is a major step forward, and exactly what I’ve been fighting for.

‘For months, I’ve been calling out governance failures, financial mismanagement, and serious concerns about accountability. I tabled the amendment because I believe in action, not excuses.’