Brexit will rip the ‘soul out of the NHS’ and pave the way for multi-billion pound healthcare firms to enter the market, an expert has warned.

As hundreds of NHS workers rallied against quitting the EU today, one medic called for an end to the ‘failed experiment.’

Dr Mike Galsworthy said Brexit was already killing the health service because huge numbers of vital foreign staff were either leaving or not being recruited.

Record number of NHS workers are now demanding a second vote on Brexit (Picture: Getty)

He added that the falling pound was weakening their buying power and soon they would no longer have access to ground-breaking pharmaceuticals and overseas medical research.


Dr Galsworthy added the fear was that big corporations would come in to plug the financial gap, completely going against the founding principles of the ‘free’ service.



He told Metro.co.uk: ‘NHS workers are getting increasingly anxious about what Brexit means for the NHS and our healthcare system.

‘A lot of people are saying the NHS can’t survive if Brexit happens.’

He added: ‘The threat to the NHS is that it could get more broken in terms in terms of the quality of provision and its soul and essence of being a public body.

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‘There is profit to be made and the threat is big healthcare companies with ample money will come and do that.

‘There are a lot of American companies chomping at the bit to get into the £120bn NHS market and Brexit is the ideal opportunity to do that, especially as the UK government will be looking at the US to do trade deals with when we leave the EU.’

Dr Galsworthy’s warning comes as a new poll suggests that some 61% of health workers now back remain compared to 39% who would vote to leave.

The figures are at a record high, marking an increase in support for staying in the EU of 19% since 2016.

Dr Galsworthy is the founder of Scientists4EU and a key member in the People’s Vote movement, which is calling for a final say on any Brexit deal.

Dr Mike Galsworthy is the founder of Scientists4EU and says the NHS as we know it is at risk under Brexit

His wish for a second referendum is backed by 78% of doctors, according to the YouGov poll compared to just 6% who don’t want one.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives have also supported calls for the public to head back to the ballot box.

Figures out last week painted a worrying picture about the staffing crisis in the NHS.

It is now short of 107,743 personnel in England – the most ever – including 11,576 doctors and 41,722 nurses, according to new figures from NHS Improvement.

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Shortages of nurses are now so acute that they ‘risk becoming a national emergency’, said Siva Anandaciva of the King’s Fund thinktank.

The discredited boast by Brexiteers that leaving the EU would save the NHS £350,000,000 a week was one main reason people voted to exit the bloc.

However Brexit is now causing severe problems in the recruitment and retaining of staff.

Currently 62,000 NHS staff in England are EU nationals, accounting for 5.6% of staff. Overall 12.5% of NHS staff say their nationality is not British.

If EU workers have to get a visa to work in the health service once the UK leaves the bloc in March 2019, there are worries the NHS will have to foot the bill to allow them to work here.

The NHS is facing a staffing crisis and needs an extra 107,743 personnel in England alone (Picture: Getty)

Dr Galsworthy, a visiting researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine added: ‘A lot of people felt that Brexit was a quick profit-making exercise for the NHS.



‘They also believed that immigration was a strain on resources so they thought leaving the EU would be good for the NHS.

‘What was missing from the debate was the fact that immigration has two sides – supply and demand.

‘It’s the supply side we are having problems with because our foreign-born doctors and nurses are leaving and not being replaced.’

Calling for a second vote on either a deal or no-deal Brexit, he added: ‘People were sold a hope but if that hope isn’t working then we need to wake up and think again.

‘I’m a scientist; it’s fine to experiment. The EU was an experiment, the euro was an experiment and Brexit is an experiment.

‘Some go better than others. And Brexit is an experiment that is going very wrong.

‘If something goes wrong in a medical trial, you stop. You don’t just say “because we have started we will finish.”

‘We can and should be able to reassess Brexit.’

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