PATRICK PARKIN
Legal Director, Burges Salmon LLP, United Kingdom

Abstract

This article considers the some of the potential impacts of the UK’s departure from the European Union on the healthcare sector, taking a brief look at the impact of any US-UK trade deal; potential developments in public procurement law and workforce issues.

It will come as no great surprise to readers that say that there are few certainties surrounding Brexit. And that is at the heart of the problem for businesses across the UK health and social care sector, including pharmaceutical businesses. 

We do have some idea as to how Brexit is shaping up though. The current plan is that at 11pm GMT on Friday 29 March 2019, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will cease to be members of the European Union (although there is even a question mark over that, with ever-increasing calls for a second referendum).

In this article, we take a brief look at some of the key potential effects that a departure from the European Union may have for the health and social care sector – including international trade, public procurement and workforce issues.

Some of these effects are having an impact already. Some we can predict will start to take hold over the coming months and years, and then there will be a series, no doubt, of unexpected, unintended consequences to come.

TRANSITION / IMPLEMENTATION  

If “Brexit Day” does take place in March 2019, we know that there is likely to be a transiti ...