Prisoner medical costs revealed

Over £1 million has been spent on health services for prisoners in the Isle of Man, in the last five years.

A figure of £1.12 million is revealed by Health Minister David Anderson, in reply to a written question from Onchan MHK, and member of the Liberal Vannin Party, Zac Hall.

The data relates to the provision of nursing staff, input from General Practitioners, and dental, ophthalmic and pharmaceutical services.

Mental health services aren't included, because they come under the remit of the Department of Social Care.

The sum spent peaked at £322,000 in 2009 to 2010, having been as low as £85,000 in 2007 to 2008.

Mr Hall has been told data for the period 2004 to 2006 couldn't be obtained in the time available.

Nor was it possible to assess the sum spent on methadone, and treatment of addiction to banned substances.

The reason given is that such treatment can take place in a number of settings, and extracting costs from the various areas would be a protracted process.