Less than a quarter of doctors at Manx Care say they’d recommend it as a place to work.

This damning indictment of the island’s health service provider has been revealed in the latest Culture of Care Barometer Survey – the annual survey which seeks the views of doctors on the island about the health service they work for and the standards of care it provides.

Doctors were asked if the Trust listened to staff views and over 60% of those who replied disagreed or strongly disagreed with that premise. The majority of respondents do feel they are respected by their co-workers, and they were treated with respect by their immediate manager, but only 13% said they see evidence of good leadership at senior levels.

When it comes to their day-to-day work of caring for their patients, only a quarter of respondents believe they have the resources they need to do their job well and just over a third say they had the time they need to do their job well.

Dr Prakash Thiagarajan, the chair of the Isle of Man Medical Society, said:

“Once again, we are seeing survey results that tell us very little is improving in Manx Care. Doctors without the time or the resources to care for their patients as they’d like to or do their jobs as they should. Less than a third of those who replied feel proud to work for Manx Care and less than a fifth believe that unacceptable behaviours are dealt with consistently. People on the Isle of Man should not be cared for by doctors who are demoralised and we should not have a health service staffed by doctors who do not believe they are valued by senior leaders at Manx Care.

“We have started a dialogue with Teresa Cope, the Chief Executive of Manx Care to ask how these issues will be addressed as well as ones on pay and safer staffing levels.”

This survey comes against a backdrop of the findings of a recent an external report which found fundamental issues about with how Manx Care can operate independently from the Isle of Man's government and that the island’s health and social care model was not working as well as originally intended following its creation in 2019.

The BMA’s Chair of Council, Dr Tom Dolphin is due to visit the Isle of Man on Friday 6th February to meet government ministers as well as doctors from Manx Care and listen to their concerns.  

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Notes to editors

The BMA is a professional association and trade union representing and negotiating on behalf of all doctors in the UK. A leading voice advocating for outstanding health care and a healthy population. An association providing members with excellent individual services and support throughout their lives. 

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