Inside the NHS No Deal Brexit giant, warehouse worth 4 million pounds sterling

A stock of NHS supplies of a whopping £ 4 million worth has been stored in a warehouse in South East Wales in anticipation of Brexit.

The 47,000-square-foot warehouse, purchased by the Welsh Government, contains 1,700 different products, including syringes, dressings, needles, toilet paper rolls, canned tomatoes and even some 22,000 kg of beans with bacon.

Each bay can hold a maximum capacity of 10,000 kg of stock, the majority of which has been imported from Europe and transferred to the "secret" location.

As part of preparations in the UK, the warehouse contains 5,000 pallets of supplies that could be affected by a change in trade relations with the European Union.

Mark Roscrow, director of supply services at the NHS Wales, said that these supplies could last about eight weeks and admitted that it was "a preparation for the first time". event of a Brexit without agreement ".

He was responsible for overseeing the acquisition of the warehouse, the installation of the computer system and the team responsible for completing it.

With the Brexit agreement stuck in a stalemate, its deadlines for the last, and most important, milestone continue to change.

He said: "The products here are typical daily use of the NHS Wales in Wales, so without some of these things we would literally stop."

He added that the acquisition of the building, for which we had a lot of support from the Welsh government, and its mobilization, constituted a challenge.

NHS Wales also uses storage facilities in Denbigh, Brdigend and Cwnbran for its normal operations and each of them can store a one month stock, which can be used in case of delay.

Mr Roscrow estimated that the "Brexit" warehouse is supplied at around 80%, with work continuing until Britain leaves the EU.

He said: "These few extra weeks have allowed us to earn a little more free time.While it's April 12th or a May date, let's wait.

"But I think the plans and arrangements are solid and if we had a problem, we are confident it should be very helpful."

Vaughan Gethin, Minister of Health and Social Services, said it was important to limit any potential disruption to health care and social services supplies in Wales.

"An essential element of these plans is the securing of additional storage capacity in order to maintain an increased stock of these critical items in Wales."