Managers say NHS could run out of drugs after no-deal Brexit
Britain’s National Health Service could run out of drugs if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the group representing its hospitals and ambulance services said.
In a leaked email published yesterday in The Times, the chief executive of NHS Providers said a “hard Brexit” or no deal would affect “the entire supply chain of pharmaceuticals”.
“Public health and disease control co-ordination could suffer,” Chris Hopson said.
Mr Hopson said that if no agreement on future relations with the EU was made it could jeopardise the European workforce on “which the NHS relies”.
He said it would be more efficient for government ministers and NHS agencies to develop contingency plans for a no-deal scenario than for trusts to develop their own plans, which he likened to “reinventing the wheel 229 times”.
Britain is due to exit the EU on March 29 and Prime Minister Theresa May said she plans to have a deal with the bloc by autumn to allow member states enough time to agree on a deal.
But divisions within Mrs May’s Conservative Party have led to fears no agreement will be reached. This month the head of the UK’s central bank and a senior government minister warned a hard Brexit was increasingly likely.
Yesterday, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said a nodeal Brexit would be “one of the biggest threats to European unity” and bad for Britain and the EU.
Mrs May said she remains confident of reaching an agreement with the world’s biggest trading bloc.
Britain’s Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab travelled to Brussels yesterday to meet EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier for a new round of talks, to continue today.
He will make a speech in London tomorrow to outline plans for no-deal to ensure continuity and stability.
And the government will publish the first in a series of technical reports to help businesses and people prepare if Britain leaves without a deal.
Meanwhile, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said yesterday that Britain had the potential to become an “exporting superpower”.
Mr Fox said the UK would aim to increase exports – boosted by the weakness in the pound – from 30 per cent of GDP last year to 35 per cent over the long-term.