Health bosses say they are ’making progress’ in reducing waiting lists across their services.

Manx Care said that ’even before the start of the pandemic, healthcare waiting lists on the Isle of Man were lengthy’ with ’no clear plan in place to focus on reducing these’.

When Manx Care took over day-to-day health services in April 2021, it said it would reduce waiting lists across a number of clinical specialities.

It says that, by the end of February, it will have cleared its endoscopy waiting list due to an initiative to do procedures across weekend periods, using surplus theatre capacity.

Between November 2021 and the end of February 2022, around 550 patients will have been seen by the team at Noble’s Hospital.

Recovery in the endoscopy specialism was further sped up following the change made in November 2021 to allow patients to perform a lateral flow test (LFT) before admission to hospital for a procedure instead of them requiring a Covid-19 PCR test, followed by 72-hour isolation pre-admission.

Manx Care is holding talks with a number of healthcare providers who will see and treat some patients on its behalf as part of its restoration and recovery programme.

Any work which is carried out by what the organisation calls ’partner healthcare providers’ as part of this programme will not replace work at either Noble’s Hospital or Ramsey District Cottage Hospital. Instead, this will add to the existing activity at both locations, increasing capacity to treat patients and work to cut waiting lists quicker.

Medefer, a private hospital in London, will take on virtual outpatient appointments, which will begin imminently. Patients who are eligible to have their consultations delivered virtually will be contacted by Manx Care soon and offered the choice of seeing a Medefer specialist to speed up their treatment.

Patient referrals will typically be reviewed within two working days by Medefer once they have been passed to the team there. In doing so, patients can expect faster access to care.

Finally, options are being considered for the provision of treatment at Noble’s Hospital and at a private facility in the UK.

Further information will be shared on this as plans progress. Manx Care will contact patients who may be suitable to see a Medefer specialist, as well as those who are waiting for psychological therapy treatment, cataract assessment or orthopaedic surgery.

Teresa Cope, chief executive officer for Manx Care, said: ’Reducing waiting lists is a key focus for Manx Care. We made a clear commitment to do this and it’s pleasing to see that our focus on this has already had a significant impact for those on the endoscopy waiting list, with plans at an advanced stage to begin addressing the waiting lists we inherited across a number of other clinical specialisms.

’We need to utilise the specialist capacity that other organisations have when this is available to ensure that Isle of Man residents receive the assessment and care they need quickly, which will only be achieved by supplementing the capacity we have here on-island.

’Waiting lists were already a significant issue on the island before the pandemic, but Covid-19 has only exacerbated that further. The work we are doing will allow us to address this and I’d like Manx residents to feel reassured that this will remain a strategic priority for us.’