IOM breast cancer clinic under 'enormous pressure'

Ongoing staffing issues at the Isle of Man's breast cancer clinic are putting the service under "enormous pressure", an MHK has claimed.

Manx Care said an emergency sickness absence had left the clinic without a radiologist last week.

While a full-time role has now been filled, Health and Social Care Minister Claire Christian said that person would not start work for three months.

In the House of Keys, Onchan member Julie Edge said the "pressure that is on the team is enormous".

Christian said: "Manx Care has been without a substantive post since June 2024.

"On top of that, one of the breast radiologists is unfortunately off sick for four weeks, so that has obviously affected services."

The health minister said locum staff had been meeting demand.

Herself a patient, Edge asked what would happen if the existing radiologist did not return to work in a month's time.

Christian replied that the department was looking into employing a second full-time breast radiologist for future service "continuity".

In the meantime, she said the clinic were looking for agency staff to bridge the gap.

Thirty patients have been affected by the latest disruption to services.

Christian said they had been waiting for an average of 29 days to be diagnosed, beyond the 28-day target.

She said there was "a significant shortage of available breast radiologists within the UK, and we're quite isolated on the island".

This makes it "even harder for us to recruit someone", she added.

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