Off Island Health Care

[ButterflyMaiden]

Time has been a precious resource to me lately so I havent been able to participate in the forum. However, I felt I had to draw attention to an important statement made by Mr Rodan this week regarding off Island Health care.

According to Mr Rodan, the Island's Health Minister, the cost of providing off Island Health care has exceeded budget.

This sort of statement, coming from a Minister, usually heralds a cut back in services and is often intended to test the water.

I hopethat isnt the case and also hope everyone on the forum can help make the maintenance of existing

links to the UK Health Service an election issue.

 

I know there are numerous reasons why people living on the Island may require care in an off Island facility and I also know all are equally important.

However, I would like to make a special plea for the links to Alder Hey hospital to be maintained.

It is a centre of medical excellence and it has a wonderful support service for Island based families. Its Oncology department, for example,is staffed by dedicated, sympathetic and supportive people. I cant imagine there would be viable alternatives for Island families with sick children.

Please make this an issue for the coming election.

[Chinahand]

This is a classic example of blind budgeting ... going down a list of figures and going "oh that's expensive so lets cut it"; they're just looking at the total amount and not thinking about the service that particular budget item provides.

 

The Island is too small to provide specialist medical services; I'm not knocking Nobles, but it is a general hospital serving a small community, it fits that role well, but for specialist care other larger hospitals are needed which have the through put to justify the expensive and specialized equipment they use.

 

If off-Island Health care is cut it cannot efficiently be replaced by on-Island care, we don't have the patient numbers to pay for it. Hence the people of the Island will have to do without.

 

I totally agree with Butterfly Maiden that we have to seriously think about this and challenge our politicians to justify why our Health care is being compromised.

[Rog]

It’s also one of the many consequences of the God awful incompetence and gross mismanagement by government that has resulted in tax payers money being wasted and so not available for the really important things needed by the Island population.

 

There are a number of people in Manx government who should fall on their swords over recently emerged incompetence.

 

And one in particular.

 

Suggestions as to who that is and why?

[cheesemonster2005]

This is a classic example of blind budgeting ... going down a list of figures and going "oh that's expensive so lets cut it"; they're just looking at the total amount and not thinking about the service that particular budget item provides.

 

The Island is too small to provide specialist medical services; I'm not knocking Nobles, but it is a general hospital serving a small community, it fits that role well, but for specialist care other larger hospitals are needed which have the through put to justify the expensive and specialized equipment they use.

 

If off-Island Health care is cut it cannot efficiently be replaced by on-Island care, we don't have the patient numbers to pay for it. Hence the people of the Island will have to do without.

 

I totally agree with Butterfly Maiden that we have to seriously think about this and challenge our politicians to justify why our Health care is being compromised.

 

Maybe the island should provide direct funding for Alder Hay in Liverpool to guarantee services for island residents. This would ensure a good service and the hospital surely wouldn't be against it.

 

How come they spent some 400 million GBP on a new hospital if it's not able to satisfy local demands?

[momo65]

This really is just getting a "bid" in for exttra finance in the forthcoming budget. This year has marked a new way of payment within the NHS in the UK - so called "Payment by results." Although it has been being introduced for 2+years, this is the first year of it's implementation and I suspect that the DHSS has yet again been wrong footed by not looking at what is happening elsewhere and thinking the consequences through. So the bill has indeed been bigger than was anticipated - the problem being failure of anticipation!

 

I can see no way of providing healthcare without off-island treatment - indeed, I strongly suspect that services will have be lost from Nobles over the next few years, or possibly provided there by staff from the UK on a rotational (almost franchise) basis, so from the view points of safety, risk management and staffing, you are likely to see more rather than less off island healthcare

[Lonan3]

I have to say that the statement sounded much more like a strategy to get an increased budget than a preparation for any reduction in services.

[tameelf]

ned got a clue rog

thing is we should be employing top docs and surgons.from around the globe not just the nurses.instead we wasteing money on air fares.taxis.and hotels that wasted cash would employ these experts then less clued up medical athourities would be wasting there cash sending people here. airports happy. taxis happy(for a while) hotels full .hospital running on profit.

[cheesemonster2005]

ned got a clue rog

thing is we should be employing top docs and surgons.from around the globe not just the nurses.instead we wasteing money on air fares.taxis.and hotels that wasted cash would employ these experts then less clued up medical athourities would be wasting there cash sending people here. airports happy. taxis happy(for a while) hotels full .hospital running on profit.

 

And just a fraction of that money could be spent providing you with some punctuation lessons.

[The Old Git]

How come they spent some 400 million GBP on a new hospital if it's not able to satisfy local demands?

 

It's sometimes not financially viable to provide every specialist facility locally for a small population of 75,000

 

How many towns in England have their own hospital covering every medical situation?

[rallybug]

How many towns in England have their own hospital covering every medical situation?

 

They don't - Yeovil (my home town) Hospital serves the town of around 45,000 plus the local area, so probably a similar population, but members of my family have had to go to Frenchay in Bristol for certain operations and care, and I went to Taunton as a child to sort out a squint.

[cheesemonster2005]

How many towns in England have their own hospital covering every medical situation?

 

They don't - Yeovil (my home town) Hospital serves the town of around 45,000 plus the local area, so probably a similar population, but members of my family have had to go to Frenchay in Bristol for certain operations and care, and I went to Taunton as a child to sort out a squint.

 

Fair enough but we're not England and our nearest big hospital isn't a short drive away. This would be a chance to show that it is possible. We need to stop relying on the UK for things which we can afford to do ourselves.

[Rog]

With a city population of around 130,000 people and serving a total of around 200,000 if the surrounding area is included the Norfolk and Norwich University hospital built at around £290,000,000 provides many but not all of the needs of the area by any means.

[Rog]

Fair enough but we're not England and our nearest big hospital isn't a short drive away. This would be a chance to show that it is possible. We need to stop relying on the UK for things which we can afford to do ourselves.

 

There is such a thing as the economy of scale.

 

For example. What would the capital and running costs of an accelerator be and what would the cost per patient treatment cycle end up being considering the number of times it would actually be used within its working life?

 

ASTRONOMICAL.

 

That’s what it would be.

[The Old Git]

Fair enough but we're not England and our nearest big hospital isn't a short drive away. This would be a chance to show that it is possible. We need to stop relying on the UK for things which we can afford to do ourselves.

 

How do you know we can afford them? Do you know how much a specialist, with all of the support staff, costs?

[Billy One Mate]

The following topic I posted many months ago but it sort of explains the necessity for treatment off island.

 

 

 

Firstly I apologise for the length of this posting but as you can see by the time of the same I am at my witts end and need to put this out in the forum world to hopefully get some feedback and support.

 

My son in January 2003 was diagnosed with Crohns Disease which for those of you who dont know what it is, its a chronic disease that can effect any part of the digestive system resulting in non absorbtion of food. This resulted in an extremely sporty child losing three stone in weight, no energy, a high fever and becoming anemic. He was flown over to Alderhey Hospital in Liverpool and spent approx one month there where his disease went into remission through excellent specialist care and within three months of returning he was back to full fitness. He went for regular check ups to Alderhey and continued to recieve medical attention that I had never personally experienced in my life.

 

In May of this year when we went to Alderhey we were told that as my son would be 17 in September of this year his care would be transferred to the Isle of Man.

 

My son went for his first check up at the New Hospital with a Doctor (who I wont name) in the first week of October and at this time he was beginning to loose weight again was passing blood and his energy levels were down. It was my sons opinion that the Doctor hadnt even looked at his records prior to the visit. The Doctor sent him for a blood test.

 

After ten days we had still not heard anything from the Hospital and my son was becoming very ill (he had lost about 16lbs, was very white and was passing blood)

 

I started to chase up the hospital for his results and after three phone calls was told that the Doctor who was dealing with my son was going on Holiday for three weeks, but he would hopefully get the results sometime the following week to my sons GP. I demanded to speak to the Doctor and was told that as my Son was 17 he couldnt speak to me but would have to speak to my son.(my son at this time did not know what time of day it was)

 

I was getting nowhere and before my very eyes my son was deteriorating so I decided to take matters into my own hands and find out the treatment needed and administer it myself. I spoke to Alderhey and off the record and unofficially they told me what to do. I took him off all solid food imediately and then attempted to obtain the liquid diet needed to assist in getting him into remission. Well that was fun the Hospital over here could not get it to me without a prescription from my GP and guess what the GP was on holiday. Anyway another Doctor phoned me from the Group Practice and ten out of ten he organised to get the stuff over to the Island by overnight delivery.

 

I spoke to Alderhey again and they did say that what I had experienced is not that uncommon when a a Child becomes an Adult and is passed back into the care of the Isle of Man. They suggested that when the Hospital Doctor returns from his Holiday that I demand that his care is placed in the hands of the Royal in Liverpool where they have Specialists in Chrohns, IBS etc. they also said that my son should have been hospitalised.

 

My sons GP has returned from holiday and has been supportive with keeping an eye on his blood count which is dangerously close to the need of a transfusion. I have also recieved help from the Dietician at the Diebetics Clinic who I contacted through a friend of a friend.

 

Hopefully we have now controlled the disease as in the last two days the bleeding has stopped and his weight has been constant for three days it is (touch wood) just a matter of time now in building him back up again.

 

If anybody has been in a similar position please PM me and if you ever experince anything like this dont wait for the Hospital to sort it take it into your own hands.

 

Anybody who has Crohns or has a family member with the same please again PM me if you want a chat. I have over the past month done a lot of research and spoken to people all over the world who have provided me with lots of alternative treatments.