Lord Lansley
Main Page: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)
Lord Bethell
The noble Baroness makes a very fair point that touches on the challenge of medical supplies that we live with whatever the circumstances, whether Brexit exists or not. Medical shortages happen and are part of the life of the NHS. If anything, this preparation for a no-deal Brexit has shone a light on our arrangements for medical supplies, and they have never been in better shape. One of the advantages of the process that we have gone through is to improve the circumstances. However, as the noble Baroness pointed out, shortages do happen in every country in Europe, including Britain. But I predict that these will happen less and less because of the investment of time and resources into understanding our medical supplies.
Lord Lansley (Con)
My Lords, on precisely that point, my noble friend will be aware that, as he said, shortages of medicines are occurring across Europe. That was highlighted in the latter part of last year when a survey of 1,600 hospital pharmacists across Europe found that 92% were experiencing shortages, particularly of antibiotics, vaccines and cancer drugs. So this is an opportunity to secure greater long-term resilience in medicine supply in this country if we work with other Governments across Europe. Will the Government commit to doing that?
Lord Bethell
The Government are working very closely with European partners on the supply of medicines. As my noble friend will be aware, a large proportion of the medical supplies in this country originate from our European partners, and therefore that collaboration is absolutely essential.