Reality of Brexit will affect NHS medicines
MY GP told me a couple of days ago that he was unable to prescribe for me the medicine that he had in mind.
I asked him why. He explained that it was not available.
I pressed him further. He explained that a number of medicines are not available because the devaluation of the pound in the wake of the Brexit referendum has reduced the profit margins to suppliers. This has inhibited suppliers from replenishing stocks.
He said the NHS now has to issue a monthly list of medicines that are not currently available.
This means that large numbers of patients are not getting the treatment that their GPs want to give them.
The reality of Brexit will depress the pound for years and years by even more. This would make access to safe medicines still harder.
My GP said that if Brexit happens, the UK will import less safe medicines which do not meet EU quality standards. This may improve supply and perhaps make up for devaluation – but at the price of safety.
Has the government increased the NHS medicines budget to make good the fall in the pound? How many excess deaths – due to lack of funds or the substitution of inferior medicines – does the government think is a price worth paying for Brexit? Name supplied, Withington
Big difference at little cost
I HAVE just read about Mr Kaye’s problems with his ‘wheelchair assistance’ at Manchester Airport (M.E.N. September 23). Three years ago, I arrived back from Myanmar via Doha. We were met by two men in high vis vests with two wheelchairs, one of which was difficult to push.
My sister-in-law who was with me, had to push me while I had our hand luggage piled on top of me.
At Doha, the service was superb, with battery-operated transport and staff in smart uniforms.
Manchester compared to Doha, was a disgrace. I haven’t been there since that time but it appears from Mr Kaye’s difficulties, nothing has changed. People transporters and smartly dressed staff make a huge difference at little cost. Michael Wyatt, Whitefield
Time to plan our actions
ACCORDING to the item headed ‘Fractured country at tipping-point,’ Sir Bob Kerslake fears that ‘an overheated South East will quickly be hit by water shortages’ as a result of an overburdened infrastructure and climate change (M.E.N, September 21).
Some might put it differently. Will there be a South East as we know it?
The rise in water levels might turn the region into a swamp. The Thames Barrier is already being used more often than expected.
Further developments of this kind would affect all aspects of life. The North-South migration might be reversed – and on a large scale.
The detailed practical consequences of global warming for the UK have received insufficient attention. The terrain might alter beyond recognition. The insurance industry might collapse. Far from needing more transport we might need less. Unnecessary travel might be discouraged. Asphalt and metal construction materials would have to be adapted. As it is, roads bubble and rails buckle in heat waves. Long stretches of roads and rails would have to be rebuilt to raise them above likely flood levels.
The government should consider possible scenarios before deciding on action, let alone committing resources to it. Margaret Brown
Court cases ‘unnecessary’
A VIDEO has emerged from 2008 of Lib/Dem leader Jo Swinson as a Eurosceptic wanting to leave the EU. Strange how personal ambition can change a person’s values.
John Major called Boris Johnson’s suspension of Parliament a disgrace, yet he suspended Parliament in 1997 over the ‘cash for questions’ scandal.
As the conference season lasts three weeks, in reality Parliament is only suspended for two weeks. Labour and the Lib/Dems would not have cancelled their conferences because it is during this week that they obtain their donations enabling them to fight a General Election.
So all these court cases have been unnecessary. Jack Haynes, Swinton
Why worry about Tom?
I DON’T see why the Left is so obsessed with Tom Watson. He is yesterday’s man.
Keir Starmer is the one. The embodiment of not only Blairism, but the liberal Establishment. A lawyer, knighted – for what?
Who does the Left think will take over if Jeremy Corbyn is taken out? Would it be Keir Starmer by any chance? And then the Liberal Establishment would never have left power.
The lawyers, funded by the Davos crowd make it profitable for them at the expense of all.
Why do people fear an EU boarder in Northern Ireland? This would be different from the past with the Irish policing the boarder.
Sadly I believe that the IRA would celebrate to the point of attacking their Irish counterparts. Paul Swindell, address supplied