FRONTLINE health services which protect the most vulnerable people in the Isle of Man will remain the Manx government’s priority as the impact of cost-cutting hits the Island in the future.

That is the main thrust of a long statement issued today by the Department of Social Care as fears mount over the possible loss of services to meet financial restraints.

Minister Martyn Quayle says that severe cuts currently happening in  the UK health service would not be replicated in the Isle of Man, but has warned that the need to save up to 7% in costs and further efficiencies will require “difficult choices” for everyone - public and government.

“The Department’s policy is to ensure frontline services are maintained while reducing spending in such areas as administrative and support costs. At the same time, the Department faces many challenges, not least rising demand for its services,” he said.

“These savings will be delivered through a range of measures designed to protect frontline services wherever possible. The budgets for the key areas within Social Services for the year commencing 1 April 2011 will rise by 2.4% to take account of inflation and increasing demand for services.

“As Minister for Social Care, I will continue to do all in my power to minimise the impact on the most vulnerable in our community by protecting frontline services wherever possible.”

In this morning’s statement, the department says it has a clear strategy to ensure adequate frontline services are maintained while reducing overall expenditure. This includes the two key aspects of 1) reducing administrative and support costs, and 2) providing a wider range of services where the need is met with a suitable service whose costs are proportionate to need.

In order to reduce administrative and support costs the department has already saved over £1million in efficiency and related measures this financial year (to 31st March 2011) and is budgeted to save a further £1million next financial year.

This includes improving administrative processes and simplifying management structures by applying ‘lean management’ techniques. It also includes exiting some leased buildings and fitting more staff into Government-owned buildings to reduce premises costs. 

“Furthermore, the department will benefit from savings in back-office and procurement costs that are expected through the introduction of cross-Government Shared Services for all Departments for Finance, Procurement, Human Resources and Estates Management.

“This will deliver both reductions in staff costs and also savings in procurement costs through common sourcing strategies. This programme is expected to deliver millions of pounds in further savings across Government over the next three years.” 

Mr Quayle said that the programme to provide a wider range of services would continue with the department expanding its community based services which will enable both improved services and reductions in residential care costs.

“For Children’s Services, the Department is expanding its fostering service,” he added. “Fostering is shown to deliver better outcomes for the young people concerned than residential care.  Also it can cost a quarter of the cost of residential care.

“As a result, better care can be achieved at lower cost.  This is expected to deliver over £0.5m a year for the next three years through the closure of several small children’s residential homes.

“For adult services, the department is expanding its home care services for both the disabled and older people. This will enable more people to remain in their home, which is the stated preference of the large majority of service users. Also Home Care can cost less than a quarter of the cost of residential care.

“The level of savings that can be achieved will be dependent on the reduction of residential care provided by the Department.  This is subject to further consultation including with the private and third sector residential care providers to ensure there remains a good range of facilities available around the Island.”

At the same time as seeking to contribute to Government’s overall financial savings, Mr Quayle said that the department is facing significant growth in demand for its services.

“The population of the Island continues to age rapidly. When the department was formed on 1 April 2010, it was paying pensions to 17,000 people; today that figure is over 18,000. The number is forecast to rise by over half in the next 20 years, while the number of over 75s is expected to double over that period, creating additional demand for acute care services. 

“Also the Island has experienced a marked rise in the number of children diagnosed with autism over the last ten years. These young people are now becoming adults so the Department is expanding its range of specialist services for this group, which can be very intensive and costly.

“In addition, the Department continues to experience a growth in demand for Mental Health Services.  This is a key growing field internationally as clinicians and patients appreciate the value of specialist services to provide good mental health and so enable people to enjoy life to the full.

“It is worthy of note that the UK Government has highlighted mental health and anti-cancer drugs as the two key priorities for additional spending in health and social care.”

Mr Quayle said the department is considering how it can accommodate these additional demands within its resources. “In addition to the strategy outlined above, charges for certain services play a key role in enabling the Department to maintain its range and quality of those services concerned. The range of services which attract a charge is likely to increase for those people with the means to pay as part of the Department’s efforts to minimise cuts in frontline services.

“Social Security is also part of the Department and income-related benefits levels will be coordinated carefully with any changes to charges in order to ensure those on low incomes are not unfairly disadvantaged.”

Member for Social Services Mr Bill Malarkey MHK added, “We are working extremely hard to manage the delicate balancing act of the need to control costs and deliver value for money with the need to provide an ever-wider range of social services to an ever-larger number of service users. This will be one of the key challenges for our community in the next few years.”