The NHS hasn't been prioritised in the Brexit negotiations, and that means serious trouble ahead

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Since the EU referendum, the BMA has thoroughly considered the impact of Brexit on the NHS and health services across the UK and Europe. We have produced a series of briefing papers which have highlighted the many ways in which the UK’s membership of the EU has benefited patients, the health workforce and health services, and the need to proactively address the risks of leaving.

From the free movement of highly skilled doctors to collaboration on medical research, health protection and more, our extensive range of briefings explain why it’s so important for the UK and EU to continue to have a collaborative relationship in the future.

At our annual representative meeting in June 2018, doctors made it clear that they believe Brexit poses a major threat to the NHS and the nation’s health. With less than eight months to go until the UK leaves the EU, there is still far too much uncertainty and confusion around the implications of Brexit for patients, doctors and wider health services.

For instance: how will the UK continue to secure a consistent supply of medical radioisotopes for cancer treatment once we leave the EU? What immigration system will be put in place to enable highly skilled EU nationals to come and work in the NHS? Could the introduction of a separate regulatory system for medicines in the UK lead to patients facing delays of up to 24 months to access lifesaving drugs?

On an almost daily basis we hear of more warnings that, on 29 March 2019, the UK risks leaving the EU without a deal in place. A no-deal Brexit could have potentially catastrophic consequences for patients, the health workforce and services and the nation’s health.

Such a scenario would raise immediate and urgent questions about the rights and status of EU nationals working in health and research across the UK as well as patients’ access to reciprocal healthcare arrangements both here and in the EU, and the future supply of medicines – to name just a few.

How does the health service even begin to prepare for the consequences of leaving the EU without an agreement in place which addresses the issues we set out? The UK government has finally started planning to ensure the health sector and industry are prepared in the short term for a no-deal Brexit, including stockpiling medicines and equipment and reviewing supply chains. We believe this is too little, too late and, quite frankly, proof that the impact on the NHS has not received the attention it deserves in the Brexit negotiations.

It has become clear to the BMA that the risks of Brexit for the nation’s health are too great, and that it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure the kind of deal which will work to the benefit of patients, the medical workforce and health services across the UK and Europe. Now that more is known regarding the potential impact of Brexit on patients, the health workforce and health services, the BMA believes the public should have a final informed say on the Brexit deal, hopefully leading them to reject the notion of a “no-deal” scenario given all the serious risks that such an outcome carries.

Some will say the BMA is scaremongering by warning of the dangers of a no-deal Brexit, but this is not the case. We have not shied away from discussing what is at stake for health services if the UK and the EU fail to reach a deal on the Withdrawal Agreement by March 2019. As experts in delivering health services and providing care for our patients, we have a duty to set out the consequences of leaving the EU with no future deal in place.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul is chair of the Council of the British Medical Association as well as a general practitioner