Challenges of Healthcare Services and Implications for Country Legislation

Abstract

In this investigation, most of the findings concur with the current literature in such a way that Brexit promises to pose mixed outcomes regarding NHS service provision. Whereas some of the sources consulted hold that the UK’s withdrawal from the EU promises positive outcomes, others contend that the move comes with negative effects. For the proponents of there being a positive effect between Brexit and NHS operations, the consensus is that the £19 billion that the UK has been channeling annually to the EU might be saved and used to fund public service and other government priorities, including the pharmacy sector. On the other hand, findings that point to a negative effect of Brexit on the pharmacy sector indicate that the withdrawal prompts an increase in the departure of pharmacists. In the majority of cases, this departure is attributed to the uncertainties surrounding the EU-origin staff’s future immigration statuses. Furthermore, findings suggest that most of the past scholarly studies contending that Brexit poses a negative effect on the NHS argue that the cost of training pharmacists and doctors to fill vacancies of the EU-based staff leaving the UK might outweigh that which the UK has been incurring to import skilled or already-trained workers, with other countries having incurred the training expenses. Hence, the relationship between Brexit and NHS reflects a complex issue but the dominant theme or pattern is that the withdrawal might pose a hit to the economy of the UK. In turn, this hit might worsen the country’s health outcomes − with the pharmacy service on focus.