Tag: Matt Hancock

The government has set up a team of troubleshooters to tackle problems in the NHS in the event of a no-deal Brexit, including drug shortages and the loss of key staff. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, disclosed this week that he was arranging for special flights to bring medicines from the Netherlands to beat anticipated shortages, and he urged NHS bodies in England to buy fridges in which to stockpile drugs. The troubleshooting team started work this month, before the government stepped up its no-deal preparations as a result of the political deadlock over Theresa May’s Brexit deal and the approaching 29 March deadline. No-deal Brexit 'may mean cancelled NHS operations and staff shortages' Read more It is made up of civil servants from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and officials from NHS England and NHS Improvement, which together oversee the 240 health trusts and 197 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England. They will deal with problems with the supply of drugs, staffing shortages, fridges in hospitals not working – all of the scenarios that could arise from a no-deal Brexit,” the source said. “The DHSC has strengthened its national contingency plans for no-deal,” he wrote. “With just over three months remaining until exit day, we have now reached the point where we need to ramp up no-deal preparations.” Wormald said the centre “will lead on responding to any disruption to the delivery of health and care services in England that may be caused or affected by EU exit. [It] will coordinate EU exit-related information flows and reporting across the health and care system.” NHS England and NHS Improvement will set up local, regional and national teams “to enable rapid support on emerging local incidents and escalation of issues into the operational response centre as required”, the letter says. Wormald said some problems may end up “impacting across the health and care system at a national level”. He told the NHS bodies: “I recognise the uncertainty that you face.”

Representatives of more than 70,000 doctors have urged ministers to suspend regulations that force hospitals to charge overseas visitors upfront for NHS care. Three royal medical colleges and one faculty say the charging regime is harming people’s health by deterring them from seeking NHS help when they fall ill. Payments in advance are “a concerning barrier to care”, they say. They have voiced particular concern about pregnant women being denied care and children missing out on treatment for life or death illnesses. Their plea is the strongest opposition yet from the medical community to hospitals in England being compelled to charge migrants up to tens of thousands of pounds before they treat them. The statement has been signed by the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Faculty of Public Health. They want Matt Hancock, the health and social care secretary, to suspend regulations brought in in 2015 and 2017 that specify when overseas visitors should be charged for receiving NHS care. Charges should not be enforced until a full independent review is undertaken of how they are affecting migrants’ access to healthcare, the four groups say. Citing evidence of mothers-to-be and children being left without medical aid, the colleges say: “We do not believe that regulations that lead to such situations are appropriate. They are having a direct impact on individual health and have potential implications for wider public health. “Early diagnosis and treatment are vital to improve patients’ outcomes and – in the case of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV – to protect public health.” Some patients have been wrongly charged because they could not prove they were entitled to free care, the statement adds.

A junior minister has resigned over the government’s planned Brexit deal, marking the start of a potentially treacherous day for Theresa May in which she must present the plan to parliament amid talk of more exits and a possible challenge to her leadership. “Worse, we will not be free to leave the customs arrangement unilaterally if we wish to do so.” Vara concluded: “We are a proud nation, and it is a sad day when we are reduced to obeying rules made by other countries who have shown that they do not have our best interests at heart. We can and must do better than this.” The resignation came as the health secretary, Matt Hancock, was sent out to argue that while the deal led to dissent in the cabinet meeting, it had now been agreed to, and was the only plan on offer. On BBC1’s Breakfast, Hancock urged critics to back the deal, saying they must “look at what the alternatives are”. He said: “This is a good deal, in the best interests of the country. One is leaving with no deal, which is not good at all, and the other is having another referendum and potentially no Brexit, and I think that would be hugely divisive, without being decisive.” Hancock declined to confirm reports that a significant minority of the 29 ministers at the five-hour discussion expressed doubts about May’s plan, after cabinet sources said several people, notably the work and pensions secretary, Esther McVey, spoke strongly against it. He added: “The reason we did that is because, although in any negotiated settlement there are compromises, and there are things that aren’t perfect for each individual, you’ve got to look at the deal in the round, the hundreds of pages of it, and this deal delivers on the result of the referendum.” Insisting that there was a good chance the deal could pass through parliament, something critics say is unlikely, Hancock said it counted as a good plan. For a couple of years of negotiation that is a good outcome.” But Starmer was scathing. We’ve now seen it, we’ve read and analysed 500 or so pages. That must be the first time in history that we have a proposed trade agreement to make trade harder, not easier.”

In his letter resigning as foreign secretary, he said the prime minister was leading the UK into a "semi-Brexit" with the "status of a colony". His resignation came hours after Brexit Secretary David Davis quit the cabinet. She said the deal agreed by the cabinet after their "productive discussions" at Chequers would "honour the result of the referendum" and allow the UK to "take back control of our borders, our law and our money". Boris Johnson's resignation letter in full The PM's response to Johnson In her letter accepting his resignation, the prime minister said she had allowed cabinet ministers "considerable latitude to express their individual views" on Brexit. The UK is due to leave the European Union on 29 March 2019, but the two sides have yet to agree how trade will work between the UK and the EU afterwards. Mrs May only has a majority in Parliament with the support of the 10 MPs from Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, so any split raises questions about whether her plan could survive a Commons vote. Theresa May is sticking by her Brexit plan Speaking in a boisterous House of Commons, Mrs May defended the Brexit plan agreed on Friday, which would see the UK agreeing a "common rulebook" with the EU for trading in goods, but not services, after Brexit. Report Brussels fears UK turmoil may lead to no-deal Brexit What does it all mean for Brexit? One other element of Friday's agreement worth noting is that it pledged to speed up preparations for the UK to be ready to leave the EU without a Brexit deal in March next year. He backed Mr Johnson, saying the former foreign secretary had the chance to "save Brexit" by moving against the prime minister.

We’re going to close down this live blog after a frenetic day of politics news. Thanks for reading. You can catch up on the full story here: And here’s a summary of what’s happened this afternoon... May’s position looked precarious as she was hit by a series of high profile resignations, including those of the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and the Brexit secretary, David Davis, both Brexit supporters. The long-serving health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, was appointed foreign secretary to replace Johnson and Dominic Raab was made Brexit secretary in place of Davis. Matt Hancock took over Hunt’s role at the Department for Health, while Jeremy Wright was moved from attorney general to culture secretary to replace him. And Chris Heaton-Harris became a junior minister at the Brexit department, replacing Steve Baker. May addressed backbenchers and many sought to project an image of unity afterwards. But it took less than an hour for one attendee to hand in his resignation. Guy Verhofstadt, the chief Brexit coordinator for the European Parliament, says he hopes today’s resignations will lead to unity in the UK government.