The Department of Health is launching a new initiative to provide an on-Island service for standard pacemaker procedures at Noble’s Hospital. More complex treatment will continue to be referred to the UK’s Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University and the Liverpool Heart and Chest hospitals. Presently approximately 430 people on the Island have a pacemaker. Service provision on-Island is minimal which means patients have to travel to the UK to undergo procedures as the equipment and expertise has not previously been available on the Island. It is planned that Dr Jan Tibitanzl will lead the service along with a team, all of whom will be fully trained to undertake these procedures. This new initiative will enable patients requiring pacemaker procedures, who are mainly the elderly, to have a more comfortable experience as it will avoid off-Island travel. Continuity of service will be offered to patients at a follow up pacemaker clinic at Noble’s Hospital with specialised equipment which will be managed by trained personnel. The new service will also mean that hospital waiting time is reduced for patients as they will no longer have to travel off-Island. Whilst it has been a long-held wish of the Department of Health to try and offer this facility on-Island, funding has remained an issue and this is now only possible from charitable monies of around ?40,000 from Noble’s Trustees. This will fund equipment and setup costs, with ongoing costs covered by re-allocating the money that would have been spent on transferring patients to the UK. Minister for Health, David Anderson MHK commented “Whilst the Isle of Man does not always have the critical mass to deliver the full array of medical procedures on-Island, we constantly review provision in light of what provides best value for money and the best outcomes for patients. Clearly it is preferable for our patients with a pacemaker, many of whom are elderly, to be cared for on-Island where they can forgo the upheaval and inconvenience of having to travel to the UK for treatment. We are all aware of the economic situation Government faces at present and I would like to place on record my sincere thanks to the Noble’s Trustees for providing funding for this exciting new initiative.” The service is planned to be set up within the next 12 months, but hopefully by Autumn 2011 following the completion of staff training and equipment purchase. Mrs Barbara Scott, Manager of Noble’s Hospital added “Medicine is always changing as are the medical demands of the Island’s population. For these reasons, we regularly review services to see what can be provided on-Island at Noble’s Hospital or in the community, and those services for which we have to refer patients to the UK. I am delighted that we’ll soon be able to provide this new service on the Island and improve patient care by removing the inconvenience of travel to the UK. I would echo the Minister’s comments in adding my sincere thanks to the Noble’s Hospital Trustees without whose generous funding this initiative would not have been possible.” - ENDS -