Patients at Noble’s Hospital may be allowed to continue using prescribed medicinal cannabis while receiving treatment under a formal policy introduced by Manx Care.

Responding to questions during Tuesday’s Tynwald sitting, Health and Social Care Minister Claire Christian said the policy, introduced in January 2025 and currently under review, outlines how patients prescribed medicinal cannabis products may continue treatment while in hospital.

The hospital policy divides cannabis-based medicinal products into three categories. These include licensed medicines with UK or international marketing approval, specialist prescribed medicines produced under recognised quality standards, and unlicensed products which do not meet those standards.

The Minister said patients already prescribed licensed cannabis-based medicines through NHS specialists would generally continue receiving them during admission.

Specialist category two products may also be brought into hospital by patients, but they are stored as controlled drugs and recorded in hospital registers. In some circumstances, patients may be permitted to self-administer these medicines under supervision, provided they are correctly labelled, in date and considered clinically suitable.

‘These medicines will be stored according to their legal class,’ Ms Christian said.

‘If the medicine is to be smoked or vaped, these forms are not supported for self-administration on site, as the hospital is a no smoking facility, and both forms could result in staff or other patients passively inhaling the product.’

However, it was confirmed that, in certain circumstances, arrangements may be made for patients to be accompanied outside the hospital building to use vaping or smoking products, depending on their clinical condition and staff availability.

Ms Christian acknowledged the complexity of existing hospital policies and said Manx Care is working to improve clarity by publishing key policies in plain language for patients and the wider public.

‘We are gradually picking the most important [policies] and looking to get those published, but there are 500 to 600 of them to go through,’ she said.