This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
New service to deliver urgent medicines
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced that it is setting up a service to deliver urgent medicines and medical products into the UK within four days as part of Brexit preparations.
A £25 million contract has been set up for an express freight service to deliver medicines and medical products into the country. The service is intended to deliver small parcels of medicines or medical products on a 24-hour basis, with additional provision to move larger pallet quantities within four days.
The government has stated that the service will provide an additional level of contingency as part of necessary preparations to leave the EU on 31 October whatever the circumstances, supported by an additional £2 billion from the Treasury across government.
Health Minister Chris Skidmore said: “I want to ensure that when we leave the EU at the end of October, all appropriate steps have been taken to ensure frontline services are fully prepared. That’s why we are stepping up preparations and strengthening our already extremely resilient contingency plans. This express freight service sends a clear message to the public that our plans should ensure supply of medical goods remains uninterrupted as we leave the EU.”
The successful provider(s) for the service are expected to be announced in September.
Dr David Wrigley, deputy chair of the British Medical Association, said: “It is beyond alarming that the future delivery of medicine and medical supplies in the UK could be dependent on a freight service - for which the supplier hasn’t yet even been appointed. This latest announcement from the government is a further indication of the chaos that will lay in store for the NHS and patients in the event of a no-deal Brexit and highlights just how costly this will be.
“A no-deal Brexit could lead to untold disruption for health services and severely impact patients’ health if they either don’t get the medicines they are totally dependent on or those medicines arrive damaged, unfit for purpose or just too late. The inability to supply critical medication will place patients’ lives at risk.”
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