Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what contingency plans his Department has put in place to ensure the uninterrupted supply from the EU of (a) fluids for peritoneal dialysis and (b) other critical specialist medications needed to maintain life and wellbeing for kidney transplant patients after 1 January 2021.

The Government’s priority is to ensure that patients continue to have access to the medicines they need, including fluids for peritoneal dialysis and other medicines critical to kidney transplant patients. The Department continues to work closely with the pharmaceutical industry, the devolved administrations, the National Health Service and others in the supply chain to deliver the shared goal of continuity of safe patient care by mitigating any potential disruption to the supply of medicines into the United Kingdom at the end of the transition period.

As set out in a letter the Department sent to the pharmaceutical industry on 17 November 2020, the Department is implementing a multi-layered approach, that involves asking suppliers of medicines and medical products to the UK from or via the European Union to get themselves ‘trader ready’, reroute their supply chains away from any potential disruption and stockpile to a target level of six weeks on UK soil where this is possible. The letter is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-to-medicines-and-medical-products-suppliers-17-november-2020