Over 70 top public health experts recently published an open letter in The Times (subscription), defending the benefits of EU membership for the UK’s health care. They talked of the NHS’s staffing requirements, the need of international cooperation to tackle cross-border health issues, access to health research and new medicines and how reliant our public health is on a strong economy. The full letter and signatories can be seen below.
Dear Editor,
We write as former Presidents and Chairs of the UK’s Medical Royal Colleges and in the British Medical Association to set out why we should remain in the EU if we care about our health and the future of the NHS.
Rather than ruin the NHS, as some have said, immigrants play a large part in running it Without the 10% of doctors and 5% of nurses that come from other EU countries, not to mention even larger numbers of care workers, the NHS would face severe staff shortages – we need more of them, not fewer. Far from being strangled by bureaucratic regulations, we have benefited from Europe-wide action on matters such as new infectious diseases, such as Zika virus, environmental pollution, climate change, and antibiotic resistance, all serious public health threats that do not stop at the Channel. We benefit from rapid access to new medicines because of the European Medicines Agency, based in this country. About 20% of our medical research is now EU funded – we receive considerably more back from the EU for this than we pay in. if we leave we can expect to lose a good proportion of this to other EU countries, glad to be freed from competing with us.
Finally, rather than the discredited £350 million a week which Leave campaigners claim would be redirected to the NHS (much already promised to business, transport, science and many other purposes), it seems far more likely that there would be an immediate large decline in national income, which can only worsen the existing financial crisis that faces the NHS. It is Brexit that is the threat to the NHS, not our membership of the EU.
Yours faithfully,
1. Sir George Alberti, Past President, Royal College of Physicians
2. Professor Peter Armstrong, Past President, Royal College of Radiologists
3. Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, Past President, Royal College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Past President, British Medical Association
4. Professor Dan Ash, Past President, Royal College of Radiologists
5. Mr Nicholas Astbury, Past President, Royal College of Ophthalmologists
6. Professor John Ashton, Past President, Faculty of Public Health
7. Dame Sue Bailey, Past President , Royal College of Psychiatrists
8. Prof Dinesh Bhugra , Past President , Royal College of Psychiatrists
9. Miss Brenda Billington, Past President, Royal College of Ophthalmologists
10. Dr Laurence Buckman, Former Chair GPC, British Medical Association
11. Dame Fiona Caldicott, Past President , Royal College of Psychiatrists
12. Sir Kenneth Calman , Past President, British Medical Association. Former Chief Medical Officer , England
13. Dr Olivia Carlton, Past President, Faculty of Occupational Medicine
14. Sir David Carter. Past President British Medical Association ; Former Chief Medical Officer, Scotland
15. Professor John Cash, Past President, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
16. Dr Hilary Cass, Past President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
17. Dr John Chisholm, Former Chair GPC, British Medical Association
18. Professor John Cox, Past President , Royal College of Psychiatrists
19. Dr Mike Clancy, Past President , Royal College of Emergency Medicine
20. Professor David Coggan, Past President, Faculty of Occupational Medicine
21. Sir Alan Craft, Past President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
22. Dr June Crown , Past President, Faculty of Public Health
23. Professor Lindsey Davies, Past President, Faculty of Public Health
24. Dr Neil Dewhurst , Past President, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
25. Sir Neil Douglas, Past President, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh; Former Chair, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
26. Professor Harminder Dua, Past President, Royal College of Ophthalmologists
27. Professor William Dunlop, Past President, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
28. Sir Sam Everington , Former Chair, British Medical Association:
29. Professor Tony Falconer, Past President, Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
30. Professor Steve Field, Former Chair, Royal College of General Practitioners
31. Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, Past President, British Medical Association
32. Professor Clare Gerada, Former, Chair Royal College of General Practitioners
33. Sir Ian Gilmore, Past President, Royal College of Physicians
34. Professor Sian Griffith, Past President, Faculty of Public Health
35. Professor Rod Griffiths, Past President, Faculty of Public Health
36. Dr Christopher Harling, Past President, Faculty of Occupational Medicinek
37. Dr Iona Heath, Past President, Royal College of General Practitioners
38. Dr John Heyworth, Past President , Royal College of Emergency Medicine:
39. Professor Walter Holland, Past President, Faculty of Public Health
40. Baroness Hollins, Past President, Royal College of Psychiatrists and Past President, British Medical Association
41. Dame Janet Husband. Past President, Royal College of Radiologists
42. Professor Peter Hutton, Past President, Royal College of Anaesthetists; Former Chair, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
43. Sir Barry Jackson, Past President , Royal College of Surgeons
44. Professor Parveen Kumar Past President, British Medical Association:
45. Sir Peter Lachmann , Past President ,Royal College of Pathologists
46. Professor Mayur Lakhani, Former Chair, Royal College of General Practitioners
47. Professor Averil Mansfield Past President, British Medical Association
48. Sir Michael Marmot Past President, British Medical Association
49. Prof Alan Maryon Davies Past President, Faculty of Public Health
50. Dr Hamish Meldrum Past Chair, British Medical Association
51. Sir Peter Morris, Past President Royal College of Surgeons
52. Dr Roger Neighbour Past President , Royal College of General Practitioners
53. Professor Adrian Newland Past President ,Royal College of Pathologist
54. Lord Naren Patel Past President, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
55. Sir Christopher Paine, Past President, Royal College of Radiologists
56. Professor Mike Pringle, Past Chair & Past President, Royal College of General Practitioners
57. Lord Ribeiro Past President, Royal College of Surgeons
58. Professor Ian Ritchie, Past President, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
59. Professor Robert Shaw. Past President Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
60. Prof Alwyn Smith, Past President, Faculty of Public Health.
61. Dr Mike Shooter Past President, Royal College of Psychiatrists
62. Professor Andrew Sims Past President, Royal College of Psychiatrists
63. Professor David Snashall, Past President, Faculty of Occupational Medicine
64. Dame Lesley Southgate, Past President, Royal College of General Practitioners
65. Professor Allan Templeton, Past President, Past President Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
66. Sir Richard Thompson, Past President , Royal College of Physicians
67. Lord Turnberg Past President , Royal College of Physicians:
68. Dame Margaret Turner Warwick, Past President Royal College of Physicians
69. Sir James Underwood, Past President, Royal College of Pathologists
70. Professor JP Van Besouw Past President, Royal College of Anaesthetics
71. Sir Norman Williams Past President, Royal College of Surgeons