Medline Prepares for Brexit: Supply continuity plans announced

There continues to be a great deal of uncertainty over the Brexit negotiations and this is likely to continue in the months leading up to 29 March 2019.

As a key supplier to the NHS and private healthcare providers, Medline has put plans in place to ensure continuity of supply to all healthcare organisations in the UK. We will continue to support our customers from Medline’s European distribution centre in Germany, which holds an average of 12 weeks of stock of each product line.

In addition to this existing network, we have started to build a buffer stock, which will hold six to eight weeks of supply of critical care items in Medline UK’s warehouse. We will continue to fulfil orders from here beyond 29 March 2019, should there be any signs of supply disruption.

This warehouse, based in Bicester, Oxfordshire, will only be activated if we start to see disruption at the border crossings, delaying Medline’s vehicles into the UK. All customer deliveries will be switched over to this Medline UK facility immediately to ensure we continue to achieve our best-in-class service levels.

Our customers will experience no change to their existing ordering process. And Medline will continue to monitor the situation closely and will implement the supply continuity plan if required.