The health secretary Matt Hancock has written to medical device and clinical consumable companies that there could be a delay in the flow of goods for up to six months in the case of a ‘no deal’ Brexit.

In his letter providing an update on cross-government planning assumptions, the health secretary said the six-month timescale he mentioned was a ‘worst-case scenario’ following the UK’s withdrawal from the bloc in March 2019.

If the UK were to encounter any delays, Hancock outlined they would likely take place across the short straits of Folkestone and Dover where “the frequent and closed loop nature of these mean that both imports and exports would be affected.”

Contingency operations that have been in place so far include increasing stock holding capacity and stockpiling of products.

In his letter, Hancock wrote: “In a ‘no deal’ exit from the EU we would, of course, be pressing member states hard to introduce pragmatic arrangements to ensure the continued full flow of goods which would be to their benefit as well as ours. Nevertheless, as a responsible Government, we have a duty to plan for all scenarios. And in areas where we cannot tolerate significant risk to the flow of goods, such as with medicines and medical products, we need to have contingency plans in place for this worst-case planning assumption.

“The Government recognises the vital importance of medicines and medical products and is working to ensure that there is sufficient roll-on, roll-off freight capacity to enable these vital products to continue to move freely in to the UK. The Government has also agreed that medicines and medical products will be prioritised on these alternative routes to ensure that the flow of all these products will continue unimpeded after 29 March 2019.”