The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is recruiting two Manx residents to help shape its strategic decision-making as part of the ongoing programme of work to transform the delivery of health and social care in the Isle of Man.
The Patient, Public and Service User Representatives will play their part in DHSC committees and will provide an independent voice by communicating strategic views of stakeholder groups to members and officers. The representatives will also play a pivotal role in improving engagement between the public and the DHSC, playing a key role in any DHSC engagement activities. Ideally individuals should have experience of the Island’s health and care sector, but don’t need to have had any experience of a public role or working alongside the DHSC before.
On 01 April 2021, one of the most significant legislative changes in Manx history will take place with the launch of Manx Care, a stand-alone organisation sitting at arms-length from the DHSC with responsibility for the provision of integrated health and care services across the Island. DHSC will retain its responsibility for setting policy, strategy, regulation and financial management, with the combined structure being a key recommendation of Sir Jonathan Michael’s landmark report into the creation of a sustainable, high quality health and care system for the Isle of Man. Within this DHSC will ensure a more transparent governance structure is in place, open to both internal and external scrutiny, resulting in more informed policy development.
The representative roles are both voluntary, with the successful candidates being asked to contribute around two days of their time every month to the Department. They will be given appropriate training to help them maximise the contribution they can make to the DHSC, proactively work with those groups who may be under-represented in the community and increase public participation in, for example, surveys, consultations and health-related public events.
Kathryn Magson, Interim Chief Executive of the DHSC, commented:
'The Isle of Man has a very diverse range of community groups within its population, all with very different health and social care needs as well as differing views about what high-quality care looks like for them. It’s therefore vital that we engage as closely as we can, and make sure that patients and service users have a voice within our strategic decision-making. We want our representatives to act as a ‘critical friend’ to the DHSC by asking challenging questions of us so that we can ultimately deliver a world-class health and care system for Manx residents.'
