Leading doctors last night warned that the treatment of thousands of cancer patients could be dangerously delayed in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Critical supplies of radioactive medicines used to treat a range of tumours are at risk of being held up if the UK crashes out of the European Union.
Some of the treatments only work for a matter of days after being created, meaning any delay in transporting them can diminish their effectiveness.
Cancer specialists fear there will be hold-ups when the UK exits the Euratom agreement, which allows ‘medical isotopes’ to be whisked across borders.
Critical supplies of radioactive medicines used to treat a range of tumours are at risk of being held up if the UK crashes out of the European Union
The NHS sources most of the nuclear medicines from Europe and they benefit around 10,000 cancer patients a year. Some would not survive without them.
Certain isotopes are also used in around 700,000 scans a year to help diagnose cancer as well as conditions including lung clots and osteoporosis.
Dr Jeanette Dickson, vice president of clinical oncology at the Royal College of Radiologists, said: ‘These medicines are like a burning fuse.
‘They start off with a certain amount of radioactivity and you have a set time to get them to hospital when they are still effective. If you delay them for a few hours, you begin to lose activity.’
Under Euratom, potentially dangerous medical isotopes can cross EU borders ‘without prior warning or consent’.
They are usually imported via the Channel Tunnel at night ‘without touching customs’, said Dr Dickson, who warned leaving Euratom could add lengthy checks.
Dr John Buscombe, a consultant at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, said not knowing when the medicines would arrive could jeopardise treatments.
He said: ‘Let’s say I’m using a medical isotope to help scan a child with a rare cancer who’s booked in for a particular day. If that medicine is delayed, the patient will miss their slot.’
Cancer specialists fear there will be hold-ups when the UK exits the Euratom agreement, which allows ‘medical isotopes’ to be whisked across borders
Booking a new time might take ‘another week or two’, he said. ‘And if we can’t get these scans done, these children can die.’
Doctors fear added bureaucracy may lead to manufacturers raising prices or reducing NHS supplies.
The biggest impact could be from disruption to supplies of Technetium-99m, used in 80 per cent of nuclear medicine scans.
Other treatments that could be affected are types of targeted radiotherapy for cervical and prostate cancer.
One, called brachytherapy, is used as a knock-out blow for cervical cancer. Up to 1,500 women a year benefit from it.
The treatment helped cure Kerry Danns, 39, of cancer. The mother-of-three from Ruislip, West London, said: ‘Without that, I don’t know what situation I’d now be in.’
The warnings come days after Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the NHS was looking to ‘stockpile’ medicines to prepare for a no-deal Brexit.
Conservative peer and former minister Ros Altmann said radioactive isotopes could not be stockpiled and said the issue ‘could be life-threatening’.
The Government confirmed in January that the UK would be leaving Euratom, which is closely tied to the EU.
A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘The UK’s ability to import medical isotopes from Europe and the rest of the world will not be affected.’