Staff sickness means Manx Care's ambulance capacity is halved

Admission made during public board meeting

Manx Care has admitted it's had to operate, at times, with half the minimum ambulances it requires due to high levels of paramedic sickness.

It means response times for people needing the emergency vehicles have been affected.

The admission was made at the today's public board meeting by operations director Oliver Radford who later said they were actively recruiting new staff:

Manx Care's chief executive Teresa Cope told the meeting she recognises the pressures the ambulance service is facing.

Other topics discussed included developing capacity at Ramsey Cottage Hospital and long waiting times in endoscopy, cardiology and orthopaedics.

You can watch the full board meeting below: