Think-tank warns of future medicines shortages

There is a risk the UK will be left out of EU measures to mitigate medicines shortages post-Brexit, the Nuffield Trust has warned in a new report, The future for health after Brexit,

Explaining recent medicines shortages, the report concludes that Brexit has exacerbated global medicine shortages, as it has lowered the value of sterling and removed the UK from EU supply chains.

In the think-piece, the Nuffield Trust says that the UK has intensified its reliance on migration following Brexit as a source for both health and social care workers, particularly, on ‘red list’ countries. These are judged by the World Health Organization to have too few trained clinicians of their own. The Trust states that one in five nurses trained outside the UK or EU who joined the UK register came from these countries in 2022/23.

The report also concludes that heavy reliance on migration without the underpinning of EU free movement of labour means a permanent risk of political choices suddenly affecting staffing availability.

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