Paola Arosio 
Freelance journalist

Abstract

“Fog in the Channel, continent cut off” is an old saying that effectively (and with a bit of irony) tells about the insularity and isolationism of the Brits. In the past, when the fog prevented navigation in the Channel, it wasn’t the UK to be “cut off”, but rather the European continent, which could not benefit from the connection with the British Isles. Though radar and other technology today prevent weather from being an obstacle, the difficult relationship between Great Britain and the rest of Europe is again an issue, as Brexit has shown us. Brexit polls results on the 23rd of June were indeed a heavy blow to the UK government and business organisations, including the NHS and the pharma industry.

We saw it coming...
So, let’s look back for a second and rewind the tape to the Remain or Leave electoral campaigns. The British scientific community had sided in favour of Remain. Examples? The article titled Why doctors should vote to remain in the EU by Fiona Godlee that came out in the British Medical Journal on the 23rd of June and the article Brexit: UK Should remain published on the 16th of June in Nature. Oncologists had supported the Remain campaign with an article in The Lancet Oncology journal, and many other medical associations had done the same. The same opinion was expressed by Genetic Alliance, an association representing patients with rare genetic diseases. Also British pharma had chosen to remain and had bought ads on several UK newspapers to show it clearly. Nonetheless, this is water under the bridge now.
We all know what the Brexit election results were; the scenario it has led us to appears quite complex. Six months after the Brexit vote, below is a brief list of consequences Brexit will cause to the healthcare sector.

What happens now?

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