NHS: Drugs

(asked on 6th September 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much their initiative to stockpile medicines in the event of a no-deal Brexit will cost.


Answered by
Lord O'Shaughnessy Portrait
Lord O'Shaughnessy
This question was answered on 19th September 2018

On 23 August 2018, the Department wrote to pharmaceutical companies that supply medicines for National Health Service patients from, or via, the European Union or European Economic Area asking them, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, to ensure they have a minimum of six weeks additional supply in the United Kingdom, over and above their business as usual operational buffer stocks, by 29 March 2019.

The Department also asked those suppliers to indicate how they propose to ensure continuity of supply of their products to the NHS and said it would consider how the Department may support suppliers in making arrangements to meet this expectation following the receipt of evidence.

It is not possible to calculate what the initiative to stockpile medicines will cost industry, or decide what support the Government may provide until these responses have been received and analysed.

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