Peterborough and Cambridgeshire health chief says there will be no shortage or stockpiling of drugs in Brexit lead up

Jan Thomas told the CCG’s board of directors yesterday (Tuesday, January 8) : “We are responsible for the care the public receives at hospital and in the community, and we have to ensure delivery of the best possible service and treatment for patients.

“But false rumours in the press and on social media about shortages of high-cost drugs can potentially lead to a panic situation among patients. We need to avoid this as much as possible, before a ‘phantom’ scare, becomes a real one if GPs start to stockpile in the lead-up to Brexit.”

However, the GPs in the room were all concerned that there are already serious shortages of certain high-cost drugs: “Getting hold of some of these drugs is now almost impossible. It is the worst I’ve ever known it”, said Dr Alex Manning, GP member.

Dr Mark Brookes, also a GP member, added: “It may be a knee-jerk reaction to Brexit, but is definitely impacting upon patients.”

Ms Thomas replied: “Now that we’ve mentioned the ‘B’word, post-Brexit we need to have EU-exit preparedness, which means we all need to be focussed on the risks as we understand them.

“But there will be no knee-jerk reactions that create unnecessary panic – and so that means no stockpiling of drugs.”

The commissions health services in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire.

Robert Alexander, Local Democracy Reporting Service