NHS cannot afford ‘a Brexit at any cost’, says BMA

The British Medical Association (BMA) has warned that the NHS cannot afford ‘a Brexit at any cost’

Last Saturday, 700,000 people marched in London to demand a public vote on the final Brexit deal. Leeds-based GP and BMA council member, Hannah Barham-Brown, was in attendance and spoke on behalf of the BMA, warning about the threats Brexit posed to the NHS and reiterating the association’s position that there be a final public vote.

Alongside other speakers at the rally, Barham-Brown also expressed her concerns as an NHS patient as to what Brexit might mean for the security and sustainability of the health service.

She said:

“The NHS is one of the greatest things this country has ever achieved, and I am grateful for its existence every day. And yet, over the past two years, it has become clear that Brexit represents a major threat to the NHS and to the nation’s health.

“Hearing our health secretary talk about stockpiling essential medicines should terrify and infuriate everyone, whether they voted leave or remain. Losing our highly skilled European NHS staff at a time when we are already overstretched is unacceptable.

“The reality is that a Brexit at any cost is not a price our NHS can afford, and it is a price that will ultimately be paid by those who staff our health service and the patients we care for.’

She added:

“I am here from the British Medical Association to say loudly and clearly: Brexit is bad for health, bad for patients and bad for the NHS. Let’s give the people a final say.”

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