A freeze on recruitment of non-essential roles has been introduced by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The temporary measure was announced last week to ease pressure on the department’s budget, after seeking an extra £20 million from Tynwald in the last two years.

The Examiner asked the public about their thoughts on the issue and how the measure might affect staff within health and social care.

’I think that no government can ever get it right,’ said Kerry Tenderini, aged 34, who lives in Douglas. ’But the budget does need to be better controlled.

’I’d expect the non-essential roles have been filled anyway and a few weeks of not using non-essential staff isn’t going to make a huge difference, although it will put pressure on those working and those who need to take holiday leave.’

Christine Shipper, a 69-year-old from Ballasalla, thinks the whole service needs to be ’looked over’.

She said: ’The freeze on recruitment is wrong. At the moment, people aren’t seen to properly. Instead, they have to go to the UK where it’s very expensive.

’The department should think about bringing consultants over, but then again it must cost an absolute fortune to bring them over,’ she said.

When asked about what the department could do to solve its budget problem,

Christine said: ’I’m not sure where the funding would come from. Maybe an increase in income tax might work, but I don’t know.

’The world’s in a mess!’

Union Mills resident Geoff Walton, who is originally from South Africa, said: ’I’m a fan of the health system here, compared to the one in South Africa. I think the department needs more funding, but I don’t really know a lot about the financial side of the island.’

Alan Barker, who lives in Douglas, said: ’I think a lot of people, including staff, are going to get racked off about it. It’s the same story. We reward failure here.’

Sitting on a bench near Marks and Spencer, John Jepsen from Douglas shared his thoughts on the temporary measure.

’It’s wrong because if you don’t have the essentials, you can’t get treatment. I think the staff will get very frustrated and probably leave if no one else is there to help them. It will just go downhill.’

Mr Jepsen, aged 63, who suffers with diabetes, has faced a lot of cancelled appointments from the hospital over time and believes the freeze in recruitment will ’affect this further’.

Saddlestone resident Thomas Lenhard, aged 55, voiced his concern about the department’s decision and the impact it will have on those with disabilities.

’Cuts in the health department are never good and people like me, who are disabled, need the services.

’They had to fly me over to the UK when I lost my legs because the island isn’t big enough for specialists.’

Thomas, who moved to the island from Germany 17 years ago, thinks most health care roles are essential.

’People in the hospital look after their patients like a family would. You have someone feeding them, checking their progress, but now the service is going backwards.’