Nicola Sturgeon urges answers on how much Brexit will cost the NHS
- Published
Nicola Sturgeon will address a major cancer conference being held in Glasgow
Nicola Sturgeon has called for the UK government to "come clean" on how much Brexit will cost the NHS.
Scotland's first minister is due to address a major cancer conference in Glasgow later.
She has highlighted issues over the loss of "millions of pounds" of research funding and pharmaceutical firms being told to stockpile drugs.
The UK government said it was confident of reaching a deal with the EU that benefits patients and the NHS.
The UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March 2019 and the two sides are currently negotiating the terms of its exit and its future relations in a whole range of issues.
Both sides insist they want to avoid a "no deal" Brexit, where the UK leaves without a formal agreement in place.
Speaking ahead of her speech at the National Cancer Research Institute Conference, Ms Sturgeon said: "Far from the £350m extra a week promised to the NHS from Brexit, there is growing evidence of mounting costs.
"It's now time the UK government came clean on the scale of the cost to our health service.
"The prime minister failed to guarantee there would be no interruption in medicine supplies after Brexit.
"This came after UK ministers published a truncated tender, at a cost of tens of millions of pounds, associated with medicines stockpiling."
Concerns have previously been raised about medicine availability in the event of a no-deal Brexit
The first minister said that "even with a deal" the NHS faced "a loss of millions of pounds in research funding which could hit clinical trials".
She added: "The best way to avoid this damage to the health service is to remain in the EU.
"But short of that, the UK must stay in the customs union and single market - which is around eight times the size of the UK market alone - to minimise the damage of Brexit and ensure we continue to have access to the high quality frontline and research staff we need."
She said the Scottish government was doing all it could to mitigate the expected damage Brexit could cause the NHS.
A spokeswoman for the UK government's department of health and social care said: "The government is confident of reaching a deal with the EU that benefits patients and the NHS - but we are preparing for all situations and we are working closely with partners to ensure the proper provision of all medicines in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
"The department is working closely with pharmaceutical companies to minimise costs and we have received good engagement from the industry so far."