Dear Orkney News,
It does not instill confidence at insofar as, the letter appears the Scottish Government seem to leave everything to the UK Gov to sort out .
The letter is as follows –
” Dear Maree,
Thank you for your email of the 23rd July on behalf of your constituent Mr Malcolm Morrison about access to medicines after brexit.
Mr Morrison very reasonably raises questions about the supply of medicines. ( and also their licensing , safety and efficacy )
This is currently reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is working closely with the UK Department of Health and Social Care , and the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry to seek to ensure that the requirements of Scottish patients are fully addressed during the period when the UK is expected to leave the EU.
The aim of all UK administrations is to seek to ensure that medicines are supplied to pharmacies as normal, enabling patients like Mr Morrison to receive and use prescribed medicines in the way they do now. In this , it is of course important for there to be clarity around future regulatory arrangements, tariffs, and customs and border controls, and I have recently written to the UK Secretary of State, Matt Hancock to ask him to make the future position on these matters clear as soon as possible.
We will continue to hold regular discussions with the UK Government on an array of issues relating to Brexit and will do all we can to protect Scotland’s interests and play an active role in positively influencing the outcomes on behalf of NHS patients in Scotland. I hope that this information is helpful when responding to Mr Morrison.
Best wishes
Jeane Freeman. “
As you can see it does not go far enough to ensure clarity and assurance that the Scottish Gov have any contingencies in place whatsoever other than lip service to the UK administrations .
Yours, Malcolm Morrison, Inverness – shire
Ed’s Note – The UK is set to leave the EU on March 29th 2019 – less than 6 months from now