My wife works in the hospital and complains on a daily basis how doctors and nurses and other staff are unable to travel to St Marys due to the costs to commute when already there is a national shortage. As a result various specialist units are shutting down which means people need to travel to the mainland for their care. I also have had friends who were planning on visiting us but now have changed their plans due to the extortinate fares that is being charged. Tourism will be heavily affected.

I suggest we identify who the significant shareholders are at these ferry companies so we can approach them so they can put pressure on the Execs from a ESG angle as it seems the politicians clearly dont identify travel to and from the island to be a problem. And they dont want to help. With the current cost of living crisis, it is putting a lot of pressure on people who have to commute for work and this problem will continue into the future.

Nearly all of the people I invited are colleagues and work for the NHS. Even with our 15% off blue light card discount, ferry travel is so expensive. Some are from ethnic minorities, with all of their family on the mainland and feel terribly isolated. We need these doctors and nurses, but more and more are leaving the trust, partly due to the restrictions forced upon them by the ferry operators.