As the possibility of a no deal Brexit starts to move worryingly close to the time frame in which health care leaders have to make decisions, attention is turning to the small print of exactly what this dramatic scenario would mean.
Some high-profile reports, and much debate ahead of the recent Budget, have focused on what it would mean for the tax revenue that funds the service. Others have tried to calculate the price of stockpiling – sometimes forgetting that the ultimate amount of medicines the NHS needs would remain the same.
But what about permanent increases in the prices of the products the NHS purchases, driven by the sharp rise in red tape and trade barriers involved in a no deal scenario? These are not just one-offs like costs incurred in stockpiling: they will stay as an additional claim on the NHS budget every year until or unless trading relations change.
The level of uncertainty here is large and cannot be eliminated. As the government’s impact assessment notes, no country has ever left a major trading bloc before. But academic studies on trade, the facts of NHS finances, and the government’s impact assessment do give us enough to reach ballpark estimates for some key categories. [More detail on the assumptions I used can be seen in our supporting document.]
The overall figure adds up to £2.3 billion in extra costs for the NHS by the end of 2019/20.
www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/how-much-would-nhs-costs-rise-if-there-s-no-brexit-deal?gclid=Cj0KCQiAsdHhBRCwARIsAAhRhsk7z7BGwKo4SdtdRWNDvlf7oNcLlGdioZtOTC08drIyfkYZZ0cSbxcaAtNxEALw_wcB
Good Morning Sunday 12th July 2026

