The Chief Minister insists significant efforts have been made to make improvements in the wake of a high-profile employment tribunal.

Former medical director Rosalind Ranson was awarded just under £3.2m in 2023 by the tribunal which found she had been unfairly dismissed for whistleblowing.

Richard Wright KC was appointed to conduct an independent review of the government’s handling of the case.

He concluded that the defence of the litigation by the Department of Health and Social Care was conducted in good faith.

But he said the Attorney General’s Chambers had failed to appreciate the significance of Dr Ranson’s claim from the outset - or grasp the potential for significant reputational damage.

And he found the management of disclosure of documents fell ‘far below’ the standards required.

He outlined 24 recommendations which have all been accepted by the Council of Ministers (CoMin).

A second CoMin response to the Wright review, to be debated at this month’s Tynwald sitting, says that a total of 18 recommendations have already been implemented.

One will be implemented this month and two others will be in place for the new administration from September.

Implementation of the remaining recommendations is under way.

Chief Minister Alfred Cannan said: ‘Since receiving these recommendations, significant and determined efforts have been under way to ensure that we fully address the areas identified for improvement and to strengthen our governance and management practices across the government.’

Ms Ranson joined the DHSC as medical director in January 2020 on an initial two-year term but with good cause to believe she would continue that role with Manx Care.

But in December that year she was informed by the then chief executive Kathryn Magson that she would not be transferred - and she ended up sidelined in an ‘empty shell role’ within DHSC.

It came after she raised concerns about the way the Covid pandemic was being handled.

The tribunal heard how Dr Ranson arrived at Noble’s Hospital in early January 2021 to find that she had lost her own office.

Her belongings had been removed and put in storage. She had been re-housed in a junior manager’s office with a broken chair, no computer screen and no telephone. Her nameplate no longer appeared on the door.

The tribunal unanimously ruled she had been unfairly dismissed as medical director on March 31, 2021, with the change to her role amounting to a fundamental breach and repudiation of her employment contract.

The tribunal ruled that her dismissal ‘was the consequence of having made certain protected disclosures’.

Mr Wright’s review found there was a ‘clear conflict’ in the role of Kathryn Magson as then DHSC chief executive with responsibility for providing instructions to the AG’s Chambers in defence of the claim and her role as principal witness.

But he concluded that the DHSC did not, as Dr Ranson claimed, deliberately withhold documents.

One of his recommendations was for a formal triage system of all claims to ensure an appropriate level of resource is allocated.

As a result, the AG’s Chambers has produced a litigation manual setting out procedures for management of civil litigation.