Manx Care has moved to reassure patients and residents after senior doctors raised concerns over a bed shortage at Noble’s Hospital.

The arm’s-length healthcare provider issued a detail response to a statement issued on Saturday by the Medical Staff Committee.

Manx Care and senior leaders from the Department of Health and Social Care met the Medical Staff Committee on Friday.

Further meetings are scheduled within the next week.

Manx Care said it was important that residents are reassured about the number of beds available and how they are managed.

It said the current number of hospital beds available is 233 - not 168 as claimed by the MSC.

Manx Care said the total number of beds available when it was formed in 2021 was 279 and so the number has reduced by 46, or 16.5%.

The reduction has been across a number of service areas as some models of care delivery have changed, it said.

Manx Care’s statement said: ‘Hospital bed occupancy rates are a regularly used indicator of hospital efficiency and capacity.

‘Bed occupancy levels of 85% are considered safe and efficient while levels above 90%, which are often seen in winter, indicate severe pressure.

‘Manx Care’s bed occupancy for this financial year, 2025-26, is 86.9% and therefore at a safe level.

‘Over the winter period occupancy levels have at times been at 90% or higher on some days, reflecting a pressure for beds.’

Addressing the issue of what action has been taken to response to pressure on beds, Manx Care said: ‘While no more ward space can be opened on the Noble’s site, the Day Procedure Suite has on occasions remained open overnight, when required to alleviate pressure on beds.

‘Additional beds - for example, in nursing homes - have also been purchased to accommodate patients who are deemed medically fit to leave hospital.’

It said that since the establishment in 2024 of Intermediate Care – which enables more care to take place in the community – the number of medically fit patients occupying hospital beds has reduced from an average of 23 to five.

Work remains ongoing to formalise the commissioning of nursing home beds and home care placements to enable a ‘discharge to assess’ model to be introduced, it added.

‘This will help patients to be transferred out of the hospital pending the completion of financial and other care-based assessments, which do not need to be undertaken while a patient is in hospital,’ it said.

Manx Care said it has identified the redevelopment of the Emergency Department (ED) as a priority for capital investment due to its restrictive size and layout - and is working with the Isle of Man Government to develop an appropriate scheme.

An Emergency Department Clinical Decisions Unit will open in the next few months.

This 12-space extended assessment area will accommodate patients who require an extended period of assessment or treatment under the care of the ED physicians but do not require inpatient admission.

A consultant geriatrician is now allocated to work in ED to provide frailty-focussed treatment planning as close as possible to the point of admission

And the senior medical workforce in the Acute Medical Unit has increased from two to five consultants/associate specialists.

This provides more consistent seven-day cover to the Medical Admissions Unit (Ward 1) as well as support for ED, Manx Care said.