Is it still Project Fear? Are our uplands sunlit? Did we not see this on the side of a red bus? Brexit continue to wreak havoc across the UK, and a bombshell report now claims that its administrative costs impacting cancer research and treatment in the UK.
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How is Brexit affecting cancer treatment in the UK?
As per The Guardian, a 54-page report – which features contributions from Cancer Research UK and academics at the University of Southampton – claims that NHS doctors are unable to offer the same provisions to cancer patients as their European colleagues.
According to the details, this is largely down to factors such as rising costs, increased red-tape, and the exclusion of UK researchers from European programmes. One excerpt from the document implicitly states that life-saving research ‘is being held back’.
“The exclusion of UK researchers from European cancer research activities continues to have negative consequences for the overall European cancer research effort. It has created new barriers that are holding back life-saving research.”
Soaring costs preventing sick Brits from accessing life-saving medicines
The lack of collaboration between the UK and the EU as a direct result of Brexit has left medical professionals frustrated. The sheer incline of costs for drugs and clinical trials serve as the biggest obstacle. Even the certification of one aspirin batch cost £22,000.
It is estimated that the price for importing the same cancer drugs used on the continent has almost quadrupled, due to the bureaucracy and extra checks on items travelling from the EU into the UK. It gets worse for medical trials, too…
The report goes on to state that shipping costs for this vital pillar of research, and the equipment required, are now ten times more expensive than they were before Brexit. But hey, at least our passports are blue now.
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