NHS preparing for disruption to supplies from no-deal Brexit

Significant planning is going into preparing the NHS for the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, including securing continuation of medical supplies, the head of the health service has said.

Concerns have been raised that if Britain leaves the EU without a deal disruption to imports of drugs and medical equipment could cause widespread hardship to patients. There are currently 37m packs of medicine coming from the EU into the UK every month, according to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry.

After the chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, revealed last year that there was no contingency planning within the health service for a no-deal Brexit, Labour said it was “grossly irresponsible”. But asked on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday whether that was still the case, Stevens said it was not and priority had gone to securing medical supplies and equipment.

He said: “There’s been significant planning going on around the scenarios ... Nobody is in any doubt whatsoever that ... in terms of ensuring continued supplies for all the thing that we need in this country, at the top of the list has got to be those medical supplies.

“There’s extensive work under way now between the Department of Health, other parts of government, the life sciences industry, the pharma companies, so nobody’s pretending this is a desirable situation but if that’s where we get to then it will not have been unforeseen.”

The parliamentary health and social services committee has said patients, the NHS and the UK’s life science industry need certainty about what the UK’s regulatory arrangements will be after Brexit and a smooth transition towards them. It has also raised concerns about implications for the future of medical research and development.

On Wednesday, the doctors’ union, the BMA, said leaving the EU was “bad for Britain’s health” as its members endorsed a public vote on the final Brexit deal.

Another major worry has been the retention of international staff amid evidence already of a Brexit “brain drain” of health workers who come from the EU27 countries. Stevens said a letter had been sent to all hospitals detailing the registration process for EU citizens who want to stay in the UK post-Brexit but that it was also important to train more homegrown staff.

In a wide-ranging interview, ahead of the NHS’s 70th birthday on Thursday, he said the £20bn of extra funding for the NHS was “a real step change”, despite increases of 3.4% a year being less than the 4% he asked for.

Talking about pressures on young people, he complained about the advertising around ITV2’s Love Island.

Stevens said: “If you take a show like Love Island, look at the adverts that are shown alongside Love Island. You’ve got explicit ads aiming at young women around breast, cosmetic surgery. That’s all playing into a set of pressures around Love Island.”