As someone with diabetes, I'm prepared to secure my own insulin supply before Brexit – because I don't trust the government to do it

As a type 1 diabetic I have been experiencing a considerable degree of fear because without a supply of medication I’m toast

Rejoice if, like me, you are among the 350,000 or so Britons with type 1 diabetes. And the more than three million people with type 2 diabetes for that matter.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) says we won’t have to fear for our health in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

When I raised the issue I got a straight answer, and a cast iron guarantee. With no obfuscation, hedging, ifs, buts, or maybes. From a government department. For me that’s fresh confirmation that we are living in a mad Matrix-style computer simulation.

Let me explain: I first raised the issue of insulin and blood testing supplies with NHS England, which supplies me with my meds. For my sins (and that’s how NHS England treated it) I was told to contact the DHSC. When I reported on this, I was greeted by the NHS – the NHS – with the sort of aggression that will be familiar to journalists who ply their trade covering Donald Trump. Tweets were included. A sad reflection of the times in which we live.

But I digress. This is what I asked, having explained that I am myself a type 1 diabetic who has been experiencing a considerable degree of fear because without a supply of medication I’m toast: “Can you categorically assure me that insulin, and blood testing supplies, will be secure in the event of a no-deal Brexit?”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s shiny new department responded with a one word answer: “Yes.”

Wow.

That could yet become very important.

There was also a statement which I will share with you: “Insulin is vitally important to millions of people in this country.” (No kidding).

It added: “While we are confident of reaching a deal we will have contingency plans in place that maintain the right levels of supplies so there is no disruption to patients.”

Now I almost wish I’d got that written in blood.

But perhaps that’s not entirely fair. The department answered relatively quickly, and courteously. (The contrast with NHS England was rather stark.) What’s the computer simulation going to throw up next? Neo doing his Superman act? It even started to rain (hooray!) while I was writing this.

Here’s why what the department said is so important.

Hancock’s confidence that a deal will be reached is by no means shared by everyone. To put it in perspective, bookies rate the UK crashing out of the EU with “no deal” as the odds-on favourite at 1-2. In percentage terms, that represents a 66 per cent chance of it happening.

So to that contingency planning. Hancock described it as the action of a “responsible government”. To my mind a responsible government would never have got us into this frankly absurd situation in the first place.

But let’s park that.

Here’s what the secretary of state at a hearing of the parliamentary heath and social care committee said on 24 July on the subject of medicines: “I’ve asked the department for options for stockpiling by industry and we’re working with industry to prepare for a potential need for stockpiling – this is exactly the type of contingency planning that you would expect us to be doing.”

Similar things have been said with respect to food supplies. That’s because we import a lot of both.

A no deal is inevitably going to result in long delays at customs as the frictionless free trade that the UK has enjoyed with Europe for decades dies.

It is for that reason that plans have been formulated to close a motorway in Kent for the purposes of serving as a massive lorry park. It also explains why stockpiling has come to be seen as a necessity.

It doesn’t matter whether your medication comes from Europe, the US, or the moon. It all comes in through UK ports and the possibility of supply disruption is very real.

But how good will those contingency plans be? Therein lies the rub.

On Friday morning, the Financial Times called into question those concerning food. The pink ’un noted that while Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, said he would ensure the UK had “adequate food supplies” he also implied it would be the responsibility of industry to undertake stockpiling. That’s not the job of government, he explained. Brexiteers like Raab love to blame anyone but themselves for the mess they’ve created and their lack of anything resembling a coherent plan.

What he said chimes with what Hancock said, namely that his department is also “working with industry” with respect to medicines.

The FT said it had spoken to a supermarket boss who described the government’s position as “ridiculous” and no wonder. Partly that’s because of their fast moving supply chains that Raab appears to have no understanding of. Partly it’s because you can’t possibly stockpile salad. It’s perishable.

Medicines are, of course, different. They are produced and distributed by a different industry with different structures and supply chains. Insulin doesn’t have an unlimited shelf life but it can at least be relied upon to last for longer than a tomato.

Perhaps that explains the DHSC’s confidence. I’d still like to hear from NHS chief executive Simon Stevens on this issue. He’s argued for more funding in the past. He should be talking about drug supplies rather than presiding over hissy fits.

But, for the record, I continue to work on plans to report upon a trip to secure my own insulin supplies overseas for the purposes of showing people how it’s done if the worst comes to the worst.

We can only pray that they won’t be needed and that we won’t have to call Mr Hancock to account for that guarantee not being met.