NHS is prepared and ‘on top of it’ over Brexit, Shropshire hospital board told

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust’s board was told yesterday that there have been a stream of assurances required to ensure that preparations are in line with national guidance and recommended actions.

In a report to the trust board, chief operating officer Nigel Lee said as the time draws towards the point of the proposed EU exit, the trust will “continue to ramp up plans and ensure executive engagement in order to support any response required both in and out of core hours”.

National daily reporting is under way and will continue via NHS Digital.

The report says the leads for procurement and medical engineering have been working in line with national guidance to ensure clinical and non-clinical supply chains across the trust are prepared for an element of disruption.

It says instruction with regard to not stockpiling has been followed and shared across the services.

Mr Lee told the board the trust has about 200 staff from the EU and preparations have also been made regarding the workforce.

The report said the procurement team within the trust continued to work with clinical areas and specialities to ensure that equipment and supplies were considered beyond the obvious daily requirements.

Any identified shortfall or risk was being dealt with following national guidance.

It continued: “Sath’s research and innovation and clinical trials team remain a key input to our EU Exit Group and remain focused on the guidance and information that has been shared amongst them from an internal and external perspective. The team have continued to work with the necessary external points of contact and assure us that we will be continuing with our current and continuous contribution to research based trials.”

Ben Reid, chair of the trust board, told members yesterday: “We are on top of it. The NHS is clearly preparing itself properly.”

“It does give you a sense they are taking it seriously.”