Mark Dayan assesses the impact of Brexit on the health service, looking at the effect on funding, the workforce and medicine supplies.

Health systems in the UK have a long standing dependency on international staff, and over the decades this has tended to intensify at times of shortage. Today is no exception, but this period of shortfall coincides with departure from the European Union (EU)—causing rapid, and at times, concerning changes in patterns of recruitment.

Three years ago, on 31 January 2020, the British flags that had flown outside European Union buildings for over 40 years were lowered. The then prime minister Boris Johnson had “got Brexit done.” Except he hadn’t.

The Nuffield Trust think tank has published a new report on the impact of Brexit on the UK’s health and care services. The ongoing monitoring work, funded by the Health Foundation, covers the impact on the NHS and social care workforce, medicine and medical devices supply and the economic cost, and reveals negative effects across these areas.

Specialisms such as dentistry have shortages and EU exit still causes issues with medicines in Northern Ireland, thinktank finds.

Sam Bright examines the contribution of Brexit to our current healthcare crisis.

Brexit has increased drug prices and worsened staff shortages in the U.K., increasing the impact of other serious issues facing the country’s health care system, a report has found.

The UK's split with the EU has worsened recruitment shortages while pushing up the price of some medicines.

Brexit shut off the “relief valve” of immigration from the European Union, worsening workforce shortages in health and social care in the UK, a report from the Nuffield Trust think tank has concluded. / Brexit’s effect has been felt particularly in specialties such as cardiothoracic surgery and anaesthesia, and in dentistry and the care sector.

The U.K. has missed out on recruiting thousands of European doctors since voting to leave the economic union in 2016, research from a health thinktank suggests.

It comes as figures from the NHS show there are 10,582 FTE medical vacancies across England alone. / More than 4,000 European doctors have opted not to work in the NHS following the Brexit vote in 2016, research has revealed.

More than 4,000 European doctors have opted not to work in the NHS following the Brexit vote in 2016, research has revealed.

How have the numbers of doctors in the NHS who come from the EU and the European Free Trade Association changed since the Brexit referendum in 2016? And do certain specialties face particular problems? Martha McCarey and Mark Dayan take a closer look at what’s happened since the vote.