A woman who has been on kidney dialysis for 21 years has told how she fears she could die in a no-deal Brexit because irresponsible politicians are playing with people’s lives.

She says she is so concerned that she is prepared to go on dialysis strike outside Downing Street to drive home the dangers facing her and other home dialysis patients.

Madeleine Warren needs a daily supply of 15 consumables including syringes, blood lines and acid fluid to allow her to conduct home dialysis five nights a week, but the supply is threatened in a no-deal scenario as half of the items are made in the EU.

“If I can’t get my dialysis supplies, it would kill me,” said Warren, a former executive at Goldman Sachs. “If there was serious disruption to certain supplies and you couldn’t do dialysis, then within a week you could die.”

She spoke out as the government moved to try to reassure the public that medical supplies were secure in the event of crashing out of the EU. The government revealed it has created a logistics hub in Belgium where vital medical supplies will be stockpiled to stop the NHS running out.

Warren says she does not feel reassured by the government statements. “I am very aware that my condition is very serious. Things have happened before that have threatened my life and I am basically relying on a machine to keep me alive,” she said.

“In my mind I’ve always thought if there was a war or an earthquake I could die, but I never thought it would be our government that would be creating that uncertainty over supplies. For this to be a political decision is beyond insane.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Source of consumables needed for home dialysis. Photograph: Amanda Kirwin

Diagnosed with kidney failure when she was 13 after she was struck by an auto-immune condition, Warren explains that renal patients have to be vigilant about potassium and phosphates, minerals that for healthy are of little concern for healthy people.

High levels of potassium can cause heart failure within a week. Such is the fine line between life and death caused by toxins, that those on dialysis in hospitals two or three times a week have to limit fluid intake including water, tea and coffee to just 500ml to 800ml a day.

After years of dialysis in hospital, Warren now rinses her blood while she is sleeping five nights a week.

A lorry delivers supplies to her home every month as all the devices or consumables in the dialysis process have to be changed each time to guard against infection. She fears any disruption in the EU supply chain to Britain could cost her dearly.

“Stock management is critical. I treat running my machine like a second job,” she says.

Warren adds that she has had no reassurance that supplies will be secure either from the renal unit at the hospital or the government.

“I am not a scaremonger but I already have experience of what even the smallest disruption can cause. If one of the 15 items is missing I can’t do the dialysis. My entire life depends on this machine working.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Supply of home dialysis consumables to kidney patient Maddy Warren Photograph: Madeleine Warren

Warren is speaking out because she feels the government does not know the danger that people like her feel in, otherwise it would have taken a no-deal Brexit off the table.

“People know about cancer, they know it is very serious, but they don’t know that if you don’t have kidneys you can die very rapidly.”

Warren says she is prepared to “go on strike” outside Downing Street to make her point. “There are a group of people in power who have the power to do something about this and they are not doing it.”

Fiona Loud, the policy director of Kidney Care UK, said Monday’s statement on medical supplies wasn’t specific enough for people like Warren.



“We need clarification from the government to help us understand how our exit from the EU will affect kidney patients. Kidney disease is hard enough to live with, without the extra stress and worry that this is causing thousands of patients in the UK.”

She was speaking just hours after the government issued more details of its plans for stockpiles of medical supplies. It said it had put in place national contingency measures to ensure supply, including additional daily air freight capacity from Maastricht to Birmingham, as well as ferries.

“While we never give guarantees, we are confident that, if everyone – including suppliers, freight companies, international partners and the health and care system – does what they need to do, the supply of medicines and medical products should be uninterrupted in the event of exiting the EU without a deal,” said the health minister, Stephen Hammond.