Brexit negotiations need to prioritise patient safety
Brexit negotiators have a duty to protect millions of patients on both sides of the Channel, a coalition from the UK’s health sector has said.
The NHS, alongside pharma and biotech industries have called for UK and EU Brexit negotiators to put the safety of patients first in the future UK-EU relationship.
The call comes after the draft Political Declaration makes ‘unclear’ claims on how patients in the UK and EU will be protected in relation to medicines safety, public health disasters and infectious disease control. As it stands, the draft only references a ‘co-operation on matters of health security’.
The coalition says that current systems which align patient safety in the UK and EU are being put at risk. Issues such as preventing counterfeit medicines entering the supply chain, data sharing, controlling infectious diseases and ensuring the safety and supply of almost 1 billion packets of medicines between the UK and EU are at risk.
The collation is now calling for the following to be included in the Final Declaration on the future UK-EU relationship:
- To make specific reference to the importance of cooperating on the regulation of medicines.
- To make clear that the UK and EU will cooperate on protecting citizens from infectious disease and counterfeit medicines.
- To make clear that the UK and EU will agree closer collaboration on science and innovation.
ABPI chief executive Mike Thompson said: “Brexit negotiators have an opportunity to take decisions today which will protect patients in the future.
While there are positives in the political declaration, the detail is missing. We are asking Government to give explicit commitments on issues of public health and medicines safety which we think is the minimum that patients across Europe should expect.”
UK Biotech Association (BIA) CEO, Steve Bates, said: "The draft Political Declaration has missed an opportunity to prioritise patients across Europe and the UK. It is vital that patients are included in the next Political Declaration and are a priority for discussions to ensure public health and patient safety are not negatively affected by Brexit – both day one post-Brexit and in the future.”
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare sector, said: “We understand that there is still much detail to be worked out on the future relationship between the UK and the EU, and we are pleased that the withdrawal agreement preserves key safeguards for patients during the implementation period.
“But we need assurances from the UK and the EU authorities that they will put patients first as they negotiate details of the long-term relationship.
“That means putting some specific but non-controversial commitments in the political declaration which make clear that surveillance systems which protect patients will be retained, that we will continue to collaborate on public health to control epidemics and manage infectious diseases, and that we align the regulation of medicines and medical devices.
“These ambitions were reflected in the UK Government’s White Paper on the UK-EU future relationship and are consistent with the commitment made in the draft political declaration to maintain co-operation on health security, but they need to be spelt out.”