Brexit: Health secretary says elderly don't need to stockpile medicine at home

Care staff have been told to make elderly and sick people living at home aware that they do not need to stockpile extra medicines or medical equipment, even if Britain leaves the EU without a deal.

Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said “staff should do all they can to make patients aware that they do not need to store additional NHS medicines or medical products at home”.

In a letter to care and NHS staff on 23 August, Mr Hancock said: “The Government has plans in place to ensure a continued supply of medicines to patients from the moment we leave the EU. Patients will not need to and should not seek to store additional medicines at home.”

The health secretary also said pharmacies, GPs and hospitals “do not need to take any steps to stockpile additional drugs or medical devices”.

He added: “We now have robust plans in place to protect patient safety and healthcare provision”.

Mr Hancock said: “In the unlikely event we leave the EU without a deal in March 2019” the Government “will ensure the UK has an additional six weeks supply of medicines in case imports from the EU through certain routes are affected.”

He said the government is working with companies who provide medicines in the UK to ensure “patients continue to get the medicines they need”.

The health secretary is writing to pharmaceutical firms to tell them to have an extra six weeks supply of medicines in the UK on top of their own normal stock levels and is also writing to companies supplying medical devices and clinical consumables to the UK.

Mr Hancock’s announcement to prepare for a ‘no deal’ scenario in which Britain leaves the EU without any deal next March, comes on the same day the Government published a batch of ‘No Deal’ Brexit planning papers on specific subjects, with the rest scheduled to be published in September.

The Government recently announced there will be no restrictions on the number of nurses and doctors who can be employed through the Tier 2 visa route –to recruit more international nurses.

The Home Office has also recently launched a toolkit to help care bosses support EU citizens already resident in the UK and their dependents to apply for settled status.