Commissioner can't investigate health complaint

Not all internal avenues have been exhausted 

The Tynwald Commissioner for Administration has said he cannot investigate a complaint about the Health and Social Care Ombudsman Body.

Paul Beckett ruled that the complainant must first exhaust HSCOB's own internal complaints procedures.

The complainant had raised concerns about a report HSCOB issued on 22 January 2026 into a complaint about Manx Care, alleging inaccuracies and omissions.

The statement says HSCOB initially told the complainant the matter was closed, but later reversed that position and confirmed both its service standards complaints procedure and its ‘Your Complaint, Our Decision’ process remained open.

Mr Beckett said: "My conclusion is that notwithstanding the complainant's reluctance to engage further with HSCOB, there do remain internal complaints procedures which have not been exhausted and these must be exhausted before my own investigative jurisdiction would be activated."

He added that the situation had arisen in part because of drafting defects in the 2011 Act and the relationship between the office, Manx Care and HSCOB.