Health Minister David Anderson misled the House of Keys over hospital consultants' concerns, a parliamentary investigation has concluded, but he was 'badly let down' by his officers.
Chief Executive of the Department of Health, David Killip, should be censured, according to a report by the Tynwald Standards and Members Interests committee.
The issue centres on a letter signed by ten hospital consultants that raised serious concerns about patient care at Noble's Hospital. Mr Anderson told the House of Keys that some of the consultants had subsequently withdrawn their support for the letter. This was not the case.
The committee states that Mr Anderson did not knowingly mislead the House of Keys. The House was misled, it states, but this was because of a series of miscommunications within the hospital and Department of Health. The committee finds that although the Minister was personally responsible for the statements he made, 'he was badly let down by the officials who advised him'.
The committee says Mr Anderson's statement was 'insufficiently vetted' by his department's officers and concludes 'there was insufficient care given to preparing this important matter, for which the Chief Officer of the Department, Mr Killip, deserves censure by Tynwald'.
Members of Tynwald will be asked to approve the committee's findings when it sits on February 18.
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