Manx Care has confirmed how it plans to respond to the increased demand for its services as a result of the forthcoming Isle of Man TT festival.
The Emergency Department (ED) at Noble’s Hospital will see an increase in staffing to cover the increase in demand, with additional nursing and medical cover in place to provide a dedicated Trauma team response alongside a team to manage all other people who present there requiring urgent or emergency care.
Manx Care has been in frequent discussion with its partners at the tertiary care providers it works with across North West England, including the major trauma team at Aintree Hospital, which will provide support for patients who have suffered severe and multiple injuries and require urgent off-Island transfer. Working collaboratively, this will be facilitated either by Manx Care’s fixed wing air ambulance service or by the team from GNAAS (the Great North Air Ambulance Service) once a patient has been stabilised for transfer at Noble’s. GNAAS may also transport those requiring immediate emergency medical care straight to the UK from the scene of a non-racing incident.
The Noble’s Hospital Orthopaedic trauma teams are staffed for the increase in demand, with additional orthopaedic trauma surgeons in place to support the Noble’s team with urgent surgeries every day during the event as required. Provision has also been made in order to maintain the delivery of time-critical surgeries across the weekdays of both Practice Week and Race Week. The Critical Care Unit is fully staffed across the TT period to accommodate those who are critically ill and injured prior to their transfer to the UK.
Additional locum Radiology and Radiographer support has been secured given the predicted increase in demand for urgent diagnostic assessment, particularly in the case of major trauma incidents, with additional blood products having been ordered in the event that emergency blood transfusions are required.
TT 2022 proved to be the busiest on record for Isle of Man Ambulance Service (IMAS), with the team responding to 710 incidents across the TT fortnight. It is predicting another record year again, with modelling suggesting the team will be required to respond to 54 individual non-racing incidents per day across the period (752 incidents in total). IMAS will again be joined by colleagues from the Welsh Ambulance Service this year, with six Paramedics and one Operations Manager joining their Island based colleagues for the fortnight. As well as the usual land-based Ambulances, the service will have access to a full fleet of emergency response vehicles including critical care cars, rapid response cars and the A99 helicopter to allow them to reach non-racing incidents in hard-to-reach locations as quickly as possible. A99 will be staffed by emergency medics from Manx Care.
Alongside this, three senior Critical Care Paramedics from GNAAS will be joining IMAS over the fortnight, and will be partnered with IMAS crew members to support their response to the most seriously ill and injured patients, with the GNAAS helicopters based at Langwathby in Cumbria or Eaglescliffe in County Durham on standby to fly to the Island to provide additional emergency medical care and direct transfer from the scene of an incident to the UK if needed.
The TT response will be overseen by senior IMAS Duty Managers operating across a 24/7 shift pattern. The team will be ready to respond on the phone, by road or by air to those who need them most.
The Minor Injuries and Illnesses Unit at Ramsey and District Cottage Hospital will be fully staffed to include both Medical and non-Medical Prescribers across the fortnight, as well as X-Ray provision. This service will be critical in supporting the people living in the North of the Island, as well as people who can travel there easily for assessment and treatment. Anyone with a minor injury or illness who can be assessed at Ramsey should continue to use that service during TT in order to reduce pressure on the ED at Noble’s Hospital.
Manx Care’s signposting brochure highlights all of the services that are available to people who require healthcare support across the TT, covering GP provision, Community Pharmacy provision, emergency Dental and Optical services, community-based mental health services and the importance of self-care. This is available in six languages – English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish – and can be accessed at Manxcare or Signposting websites.
Oliver Radford, Manx Care’s Director of Operations, commented:
“As an organisation we’ve reviewed our response to last year’s TT – our first as Manx Care – and looked at what are the most important services we need to increase staffing in due to the increased demand we know we’ll see, or where we need to protect our services in order to maintain the delivery of these, for example time-critical surgery. We have been planning our response to TT 2023 since autumn last year, including our work with our tertiary providers in the UK, and I hope Manx residents and visitors to our Island will feel reassured that we will be there for them in the event they need us.”
Manx Care is reminding all visitors to the Island to make sure they have adequate health insurance in place to cover the duration of their trip in the event this may be needed, and to bring all prescription medications and any other medical items they may use daily at home with them on their visit.
