Watchdog warns of ‘risks’ to medical supplies from no-deal Brexit
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Sejal Karia
Ministers still have a “significant amount” of work to do to ensure the continued supply of vital medicines to the NHS in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the Whitehall spending watchdog has warned.
With just five weeks to Britain’s scheduled withdrawal on October 31, the National Audit Office (NAO) said there were still “risks”, with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) lacking full information about levels of stockpiling.
It said additional freight capacity chartered by the Government for shipping priority goods across the Channel may not be fully available until the end of November – a month after the UK is supposed to have left.
The DHSC also did not know how many nursing homes and other social care providers had followed it advice on “robust” contingency planning for a no-deal break.
Of the 12,300 medicines currently licensed for use in the UK, around 7,000 come to Britain either from or through the EU – with the vast majority being shipped across the Channel.
According to the Government’s “reasonable worst case” scenario, the flow of goods could be cut by 40% to 60% on day one of a no-deal break, taking a year to recover something close to current levels.
ITV News has spoken to a property developer, who is paraplegic, and has been stockpiling since the start of the year as a lot of her medical supplies come from Germany.
Maureen Dewdney said: "I've been disabled for 20 years, I've worked, I've had a child, I've lived independently, I don't require any assistance and suddenly I am being placed in a position where I'm going to struggle to perform daily tasks that I need to do in order to live a normal life."
She added: "I started stockpiling at the start of the year I've done it not through the NHS but have paid privately to buy the supplies that I need that I can get without a prescription, obviously I'm going to run into problems when it comes to things that I actually need a prescription for but some stuff I don't.
"My biggest risk is having a lot of pain below my injury level because whilst I can't feel it, it causes something called ostroflexia which raises the blood pressure in my body which means that I might have a stroke.
"We joke around within the disabled community but it is life and death," Ms Dewdney added.
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The NAO said: "The department has done a great deal of work to prepare for a no-deal exit. However, there remains a significant amount to do before October 31.
"In the event of a no-deal exit, the department would be working in a highly uncertain environment and operating all the elements of its plan would be a hugely demanding task."
Meg Hillier, the chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee which examines the work of the NAO, said the findings were “deeply concerning”.
“I’ve seen countless examples of deadlines missed and Government failing. If Government gets this wrong, it could have the gravest of consequences,” she said.
The DHSC estimates by the end of March 2020 it will have spent more than £87 million in securing continued supplies, while the Department for Transport (DfT) has been allocated £150 million to procure additional freight capacity – mainly for health and social care needs.
But while the DHSC has said it needs the equivalent of 2,326 additional HGV spaces a week, the NAO said the time was “extremely limited” if the shipping was all to be ready for Brexit day.
The DfT has said that it aims to have “as much as possible” by October 31, although it may not come fully on stream until the end of November.
The DHSC meanwhile is setting up its own courier service for transporting particularly urgent goods.
However, testing is not due to start until October 24, although the department has said it is expected to be ready for service from November 1.
The DHSC is also renting warehouse space for manufacturers to stockpile medicines and materials for clinical suppliers, with capacity for 48,000 pallets.
However, while it has asked pharmaceutical suppliers to build up six weeks’ supplies of medicines coming from the EU, the NAO said it had “incomplete information” about the levels of stockpiling.
The report said that as of September 20, suppliers reported 72% of medicine product lines had at least six weeks’ stockpiles – although the DHSC said that had since risen to 91% – while additional freight capacity had been secured for 25% of medicine product lines.
The NAO also expressed concern that, with 24,000 social care providers in England alone, the DHSC did know how many had followed its advice on preparing to deal with any “disruption”.
The DHSC said “substantial” stockpiles of medicines had been built up and that they were “increasing by the day”.
“We want to reassure patients we are doing everything necessary to make sure they can access the medicines they need after Brexit on October 31,” a spokesman said.