Health and international relations monitor A project to monitor the impact of Brexit and changing international relations on health and social care in the UK.

The UK’s departure from the European Union (EU) has meant substantial change for health and social care in the country, with the end of the application of European law and institutions that underpin many elements of health and care in the UK, and the end of free movement of goods, services and people between the UK and the EU. 

Led by the Nuffield Trust, the Health and International Relations Monitor project is monitoring the impact of the shifts in international relations, begun by leaving the EU, on the health and care system in the UK. There will be a focus on the areas of the health and care workforce, the production and supply of medicines and medical devices, and related issues of trade, regulation and policy. It will also look at the impact on the social determinants of health, for example through air pollution, food pricing and food consumption.  

It will examine the effect of Brexit on the sharing and collection of information, and on relationships between the UK and the EU with regards to health care product regulation and public health. It will also explore the policy choices that leaving the EU makes possible, for example new trade agreements. 

The project aims to advance knowledge about the impact of changes in international relations, inform a longer-term debate about the UK’s future relations with the EU, influence future policy decisions enabled by or associated with Brexit, track the health and care ramifications of new policy choices, and recommend data and research that could improve the ability to understand and respond to these changes.  

The project is led by the Nuffield Trust and includes a small team of academics. It generates outputs from regular roundtables, desk research, interviews with policy and academic experts, and ongoing scanning of key data sources. Regular briefings and reports are also being produced.  

Project outputs 

• Parallel, divergent or drifting? Regulating healthcare products in a post-Brexit UK 
• Brexit: does the Windsor Framework help resolve challenges for health?  
• Health and Brexit: six years on 
• The UK lacks a successful post-Brexit strategy for products the NHS needs 
• The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Bill, report stage – briefing note
• The future for health after Brexit

If you would like to find out more about the project, please contact Ruth Thorlby, Ruth.Thorlby@health.org.uk.