Teresa Cope reacts to Chief Minister's Tynwald pledge
The chief executive of Manx Care says she's grateful the financial challenges facing the health body are being acknowledged.
Teresa Cope's comments follow a pledge from the chief minister in Tynwald this week to look at a number of areas across government with a view to 'streamlining and driving efficiencies'.
The focus on Manx Care's spending has once again been in the spotlight given the tax increase in this year's Budget with the income from that being ringfenced for health care.
Ms Cope says, since its inception, Manx Care has delivered more than £40m worth of savings and efficiencies but acknowledges there will always be work to do:
On behalf of Manx Care, I am grateful to the Chief Minister for his acknowledgement of the financial constraints that Manx Care are operating within.
The current cost of maintaining the Health and Social care system is not based on the foundation report from Sir Jonathan Michael that created Manx Care but on a Treasury funding formula which reduces the opportunity to develop and improve service delivery.
With the necessity to rebuild and then deliver the best health and social care service to the Island, Manx Care has and is constantly striving to deliver the maximum it can from its current budget.
As an example Manx Care has made internal efficiencies totalling 23m since 2021 and our plans for this year are expected to take those savings to 41m. However this is not enough to meet the current expectations of the Island despite the efficiencies and the recent budget uplift.
We will continue to need to make some difficult decisions this year and looking forward.
As always Manx Care stands ready to work with the DHSC and the wider government to find the appropriate way forward. We must provide a health and social care system which meets the needs of the Island and has the necessary funding to achieve this.
You can listen to the full interview with Teresa Cope here:
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