New Health Minister David Ashford says he is optimistic that he can turn things round in the cash-strapped Manx NHS.

But one of Douglas North MHK Mr Ashford’s first tasks as Minister will this week be to ask Tynwald to support a supplementary vote for an extra £9.5m of funding.

’No Minister wants that to be their first speech to Tynwald,’ he admitted.

’But I’m really optimistic that we can turn things round. It’s a hugely challenging job, probably one of the toughest in government.

’But there are also huge opportunities as well. It’s not all doom and gloom - some areas are overspent but there are some that have an underspend.’

Mr Ashford believes the key to turning the health service’s fortunes around is not to make decisions in isolation - a barely disguised dig at his predecessor Kate Beecroft’s handling of the Meals on Wheel situation.

The Department of Health and Social Care’s £150,000 a year contract with Age Concern to supply Meals of Wheels ended last Friday.

Mr Ashford ruled out a *-turn over that decision but suggested it could have been better handled.

He said: ’Perhaps some things have been looked at in isolation. The contract with Age Concern for Meals on Wheels has come to an end. We are meeting with Age Concern to see if there is anything to do together.

’But it was the uncertainty around it as to what people needed to do. I’ve been reassured that everybody has been contacted in the appropriate way and those requiring help have been provided with that help.’

He added: ’The key thing is that decisions are not made in isolation. Any decisions that are made have to be part of a wider strategy.

’If you have joined up decisions delivering against a strategy there is no reason why we can’t meet our budget. Perhaps I’m an eternal optimist.’

The forecast overspend in the DHSC is large due to extra costs of agency and locum staff and off-island patient treatment.

New Minister Mr Ashford believes that the cost pressures in the health and social care services are not entirely unpredictable.

He said: ’Nobody has a crystal ball.But if you have a robust strategy in place and you work to delivery that strategy within margins of error you can predict what your costs are going to be.

’It’s very important the DHSC doesn’t come back asking for a supplementary vote each year.’

Mrs Beecroft was asked to resign by the Chief Minister for not having the support of her department members, Ann Corlett and Jason Moorhouse.

There have also been issues earlier in her tenure with the chief executive Malcolm Couch. The Examiner revealed how she had asked the political members to sign a letter that was effectively a vote of no confidence in the chief executive.

Mr Ashford said he was confident of a continuing good working relationship with Mr Couch, and Mr Moorhouse and Mrs Corlett will remain in the department.

And it was announced on Friday Clare Bettison will return to the department having resigned from the department last month.

Mr Ashford has also welcomed Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan’s call for an independent review into service delivery and funding in the DHSC.

The Douglas North MHK said: ’It’s a system set up in the late 40s and has been added on to over the decades. We need to take a step back and think of the services we want to deliver and how we deliver them.’