Patient tells PM of Brexit medicine fear
A WEST Wales caller told Theresa May how she was worrying about her future after Brexit.
Just identified as Julia, from Llanelli, she told the Prime Minister during a live radio phone-in on LBC that she was worried about whether she would still be able to access vital medicine.
She said: “I’m disabled, I’m bedridden, I take lots of medicines and need appliances to keep me alive so I can be with my family.
“How long will sick people have to be worrying whether they’re getting their medicines?”
Mrs May said contingency plans were under way to maintain supply even in the event of a nodeal.
She said: “The Department of Health is making sure medicines will continue to be available.
“It is making proper contingencies to make sure if there are problems at the border that medicines can still get through and are available for people.”
Mrs May also revealed she is personally affected by concerns over postbrexit medical supplies as her insulin is made in Denmark.
The Prime Minister, who has Type 1 diabetes, said she appreciated the importance of ensuring medicines from the European Union could continue to reach the UK.
The Danish firm which manufactures Mrs May’s insulin said it was stockpiling supplies in the UK in case of a hard Brexit in March 2019.
Mrs May’s comments came after reports Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the crunch Brexit Cabinet meeting that he was unable to guarantee people would not die in the event of a no-deal Brexit due to problems accessing medicine.
Mrs May told LBC: “I’m not sure that’s exactly what Matt did say. This is an issue that I feel personally – as it happens my insulin is produced by a company in the EU, Denmark, so I know this is an issue that’s a matter of importance to people.
“The Department of Health is ensuring it is making all the steps if we go to no-deal . . . But I believe we’ve got a good deal.”
Pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk’s general manager Pinder Sahota told the BBC: “We have been putting plans in place to more than double our stocks so that we can continue to supply all our medicines to the patients we serve.”
He said stock levels were being doubled to 16 weeks “not only on insulin but all our medicines”.
Mr Sahota told Radio 4’s World at One: “Clearly we are anticipating border delays so all our planning including our stock provision really takes that into consideration – supply chain processes and potential delays. We have factored all those in, we believe.”