A new advice and liaison service for health and social care service queries will launch next week.
The Manx Care Advice and Liaison service (MCALS) will be open from 10:00 on Monday (02 August) and will act as a confidential health and social care helpdesk, and a central service to manage queries from patients, carers, relatives and members of the broader community. With hundreds of people accessing health and social care services across the Island on a daily basis, the service will give the public a central point to contact via telephone and email.
The aim of the MCALS service is to be an information and guidance point – somewhere individuals or their representatives can contact if they want to provide feedback on health and care services provided by Manx Care, ask questions about available treatments or seek advice and support from some of the professionals working within the Island’s health and social care sector. It will also be a starting point for anyone who isn’t sure where to look for information or access what they need.
The service will be led by Doreen Wilkinson, a qualified Nurse with an extensive background in delivering service improvements across many aspects of patient safety and care quality. Doreen has broad clinical experience having worked at Noble’s Hospital for 18 years, and for the last ten years as an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) Nurse Specialist, developing the on-Island Head and Neck Service and establishing a patient-led Head and Neck Cancer Support Group.
MCALS will be able to support people with:
- Information or advice about Manx Care, its services and strategic partners
- Signposting people to the department or person they need to speak to
- Highlighting the services offered by Manx Care
- Helping to clarify any questions people have about current or planned care or treatment
- Listening to feedback about Manx Care’s services and how people think they could be improved
- Passing positive feedback on to Manx Care staff members
- Being a friendly voice at the end of the phone (or email) if an individual knows they need to speak to someone, but they’re not sure who
- Scenarios where people want to tell Manx Care about a concern they have, but don’t want to make a complaint
- Highlighting how people can make a formal complaint to Manx Care if required
Anyone who is actively receiving treatment and has an immediate query or concern should direct this to their doctor, nurse or senior member of their hospital Ward team in the first instance. MCALS will be able to support them if their query cannot be resolved quickly by a member of their clinical team.
Teresa Cope, CEO of Manx Care, commented:
'The launch of the Manx Care Advice and Liaison Service is much needed because it’s important we have a central point of contact for health and social care service queries. It’s a priority for us to improve accessibility and information about Manx Care and our services for members of the public, patients, service users and their families. I hope MCALS will achieve that by being an easily accessible source of information, signposting people to the experts they need to speak to, and highlighting the steps they can take on any health or social care-related journey.
'MCALS will also help Manx Care to shape the future development of our services as we’ll actively use the feedback we receive to drive clear improvements and changes in what we do, and how we do it.'
Notes
The MCALS service will be available via email (MCALS@gov.im) and telephone (01624 642642). MCALS will be open between 10:00 and 15:00 every weekday. The service will be closed at weekends and on Isle of Man Public Holidays. It will initially run for six months, after which a review will take place to see whether the service should continue in its current format, or evolve in line with service user feedback.
Further information on the MCALS service will be available on www.manxcare.im from Monday, 02 August 2021.
