Health Minister David Ashford has vowed to launch a service for ME - after confirming that nothing happened last year despite Treasury allocating money to set it up.

In the House of Keys last week - prior to the publication of a damning report into how the Manx health service is run - Mr Ashford was asked how much money had been allocated in the 2018-19 Budget to set up services for sufferers of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.

He said that £90,000 had been allocated but was not spent because of recruitment issues and the need to have the right ’pathways’ in place.

Mr Ashford said the Department of Health and Social Care was also looking at a broader service that would include those with fibromyalgia, connective tissue disorders, inflammatory bowel disease and autoimmune conditions, who could benefit from similar forms of treatment.

There are about 350 people in the island with CFS/ME, he said.

’Obviously what we need to provide for them is an on-island service, but we need to make sure that this service is financially viable as well,’ he said, in response to questions from former health minister Kate Beecroft.

’For obvious reasons we cannot be sending people with chronic fatigue syndrome off-island to be treated. One of the things that we are looking to do is to develop a wider service.’

But Mrs Beecroft (Douglas South) said: ’Does he think it is acceptable to actually leave 350 people without a service that was budgeted for in the last financial year, because he wants to widen the service?

Determined

’I am not saying that we should not widen the service, but we could have been providing something for those 350 people in the last year.’

The Minister insisted it would have not been possible to have a service running in 2018-19. ’We could not have, because we need to develop the pathways first and that is what we have been concentrating on,’ he said.

’We can go down the route of just bunging people at it, but that is not going to work. People who are suffering from CFS for far too long have not had it recognised properly, have not had the support available.

’I am determined that we are going to have a service that is fit for purpose.

’Providing the odd consultant here or there, or the odd bit of service, is not going to do it, and any service we provide does have to be financially sustainable.’

Talks have taken place with potential providers from the third sector who have come forward, he added. ’There is no point going out and trying to build our own model and trying to recruit in-house which, as we know, across the whole NHS can be difficult, if there are third party providers that are suitable to help us provide the service who are out there and set up ready to do so.’

He added that the £90,000 had been allocated for ’going out and recruiting people if required’, while the expected running costs of the service would be £120,000 per year.