Dr Arianna Andreangeli speaks about the impact Brexit is having on the NHS

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Record, published on 20 June 2023, Dr Andreangeli, Senior Lecturer in European Law at the Law School, shared the impact that leaving the European Union is having on the Scottish National Health Service.

Dr Andreangeli contributed to the Nuffield Report in 2020 which examined the lack of awareness about the potential impact of Brexit on health care policy and on the functioning of the NHS across the whole of the United Kingdom.  

One of the repercussions of Brexit include patients being denied access to treatments that are unavailable in the UK but available in the EU, including those who have been on waiting lists for year.

No longer being part of the EU also restricts the free movement of goods, including medication and it is also expected that the approval process for new drugs will be slower in the UK than the rest of Europe. The UK is now responsible for creating its own import deals with other countries which may result in it taking longer for new drugs to be available in the UK.

The NHS in Scotland and also across the other UK nations is currently facing staffing pressures as the service struggles to attract staff and experts from abroad. With new rules around visas and a complicated process around being granted settled status, it has resulted in many international workers heading home or moving elsewhere.

Dr Andreangeli told the Daily Record: “Even though there are exceptions to the rules in relation to visas and immigration for highly skilled individuals the process is far more cumbersome. I am not surprised that providers are already seeing significant problems in recruiting medical professionals.”