Black Country health chief warns of medical shortages due to coronavirus and Brexit
A health chief in the Black Country has warned hospitals could face a shortage of medical supplies due to a combination of coronavirus and Brexit.
The Government has stockpiled medicine ahead of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union but those have since been eaten away during the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been said.
It has forced hospital bosses at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust to assess whether they will have enough medical supplies going forward.
Speaking at the trust board's monthly meeting on Thursday, chief operating officer Liam Kennedy told fellow board members: "Reagents [for the rapid turnaround Covid testing] we spoke about briefly and national shortages, medication, EU [European Union] regulations coming into force with Brexit and what does that mean in term of medication stockpiles.
"We got notification recently that a lot of the stockpiles that they put in place for Brexit have been used during the Covid pandemic.
"We need to risk assess what that means for us going forward and whether or not we have got ample supplies to be able to continue during the recovery."
The Department for Health and NHS England were approached for comment.
It comes after the Government wrote to pharmaceutical firms this month, urging them to stockpile medical supplies ahead the UK ending its transition period with the EU on December 31.
Responding to the concerns, Sandwell's Warley MP John Spellar said: "I would certainly hope the Government have been restocking - it would be appalling if they haven't.
"I know they have been placing orders for various medicines."
Health chiefs at neighbouring NHS trusts also told the Express & Star they will be monitoring the situation as the Brexit withdrawal process continues.
The UK left the EU on January 31 but it is currently going through an 11-month transition period - meaning it is still bound it to EU rules.
Diane Wake, chief executive at the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Russells Hall Hospital, said: "We proactively manage medicines stocks and work with our local, regional and national medicines cells to ensure we have adequate supplies and will be closely monitoring this as we move through Brexit."
Sandwell's NHS trust runs Sandwell General Hospital, in West Bromwich, City Hospital, in Birmingham, and Rowley Regis Hospital, in Rowley Regis. It will also run the Midland Met Hospital which is being built in Smethwick.
