Who can forget those propagandist slogans boldly emblazoned on buses throughout the country during the run-up to the 2016 referendum, reading: “We send the E.U. £350m a week, let’s fund our NHS instead.”
Alongside toughening the rules on immigration and driving migrants away from its borders, promises of the billions of extra pounds for Britain's National Health Service was one of the key reasons voters opted to vote Leave on the fateful election in 2016.
Now, less than six months away from the official Brexit departure date of March 29, 2019, instead of a healthier-looking NHS ready to lap up an additional £350 million a week as promised by the Brexiteers, Britain’s health system is on the brink of collapse. Crippled by severe staff shortages and sapped of vital funds that could have been spent on research for new treatments – which instead went to preparing for Brexit – the NHS has additionally suffered the collapsing value of the pound which sent costs for medical supplies and equipment rising.
The rapidly deteriorating services make for grim reading and are a far cry from the shining example of a publicly-funded national healthcare system that provided affordable care for all. Instead, healthcare waiting times continue to grow, with the latest NHS figuresshowing an “increasing trend in the number of patients waiting longer than six weeks over the past two years,” due to the decreasing number of employed nurses, doctors and health visitors.
The misuse – or more bluntly, the abuse – of the NHS by the Leave campaign, which claimed that the £350 million Britain sends to the E.U. each week would be recouped into the NHS pot, turned out to be nothing more than a lie to swing indecisive voters.
As former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said, referring to the dramatic U-turn made by Vote Leave's director Dominic Cummings, from one of the masterminds of the Brexit campaign to his humbly admitting the decision may have been “an error”:
“Dominic Cummings has let the cat out of the bag. This is the man who slapped the £350m NHS lie on the side of the bus who is now saying leaving the E.U. could be a mistake. These Brexiteers have sold us a pup and lied to the public.”
With the Chequers Deal Quashed, a No-Deal Looks Likely
With Theresa May’s Chequers Brexit deal being quashed by E.U. leaders at the recent Salzburg Summit, a no-deal Brexit beckons solemnly closer, and with it, further chaos and disruption for the NHS. The British Medical Journal warned explicitly that a no-deal Brexit would be “catastrophic for the NHS.”
“The NHS could be crippled by a lack of staff and would offer worse patient care if the U.K. leaves the European Union without a deal,” wrote the BMJ.
Such concerns have been echoed by health boards across the United Kingdom, which warn of the “high risk” Brexit could cause in terms of disruptions to health services, specifically by worsening staff shortages and limiting people's access to specialist medicines and doctors.
A BBC investigation found one of the medical establishment's key concerns is the impact that leaving the European Union will have on Britain's ability to attract and retain staff from Europe. NHS Orkney, off the coast of Scotland, said a large proportion of its doctors were nationals from the E.U. and that there has already been a “dramatic reduction” in applications for doctor positions in the region – a situation it pins squarely on Brexit.
NHS Lothian is meanwhile worried that many of its E.U. staff members will choose to leave the U.K. after the Brexit date, and fears that some staff will be excluded from the workforce after failing to secure settled status.
Exporting the NHS ‘Brand’ Around the World
Adding further fuel to the Brexit flames engulfing the NHS is recent news that the health service will be exported across the world in efforts to boost investment in post-Brexit Britain. In what is being seen as a desperate bid to raise £7 billion in funding and investment over the next 10 years, controversial plans have been announced to sell the NHS "brand" across the globe.
The Healthcare UK Export Catalyst, if successful, will allow the NHS to access global healthcare opportunities by effectively selling their expertise worldwide – a strategy which, given the system's current state of degradation, has evoked criticism.
Talking to the Telegraph, Joyce Robin of Patient Concern expressed her worries over the Healthcare UK Export Catalyst and staff shortages within the NHS. “This would be all very nice if we had a surplus of staff to go and share their expertise around the world, but the NHS is actually scrabbling to treat its own patients, because there is such a dire shortage of nurses. I think the idea is ridiculous,” Robin said.
As the earlier nights start to draw in, the leaves curl on the trees and the first morning frosts appear, winter isn’t far away in Britain and, with it, the additional pressure the cold months wreak on the nation’s National Health Service.
Matt Hancock, the U.K.’s Health Secretary, admitted he cannot guarantee that the NHS won't face another winter like last year, when the health system came under unprecedented pressure with waiting times, and Accident and Emergency attendances and admissions reaching alarming levels.
With the UK scheduled to officially leave the European Union in March, this winter looks to be more fraught than ever as Britain races to secure a deal with the E.U. The Brexit vote has had negative impacts on the NHS already. But a no-deal scenario, which would see 40 years of accumulated regulations and legislation nullified, threatens, as Dr. Kailish Chand writes, “the very existence of the NHS” itself.
