AMONGST all the theatrics of Westminster politics – the protests, prorogation, the political manoeuvres – it’s often easy to forget that what goes on inside that bubble has a real impact to every single person across the country.

The Brexit vote in 2016 meant that Westminster is spending a lot more time in the news and on our television screens – four years ago not many people would have even heard about backstops, international trade law and the Maastricht Treaty.

However, all these treaties, laws and border checks, which have remained largely unchanged for years, could, in under two months time, be ripped up and we could be starting again.

The release of Operation Yellowhammer documents has concerned many people, whether it was a ‘worst case scenario’ as the government claim or a ‘base case’ as the Scottish government say.

But, personally, the most concerning bit was the potential delays to medicines.

I suffer from a chronic illness which means I have to take many tablets a day just to keep it under control, let alone other medications I keep just in case I need to manage a flare-up which can come around at the drop of a hat.

Most of these are imported, some from the EU and some from outside of the EU.

I know from previous experience that if I was to not take my medicine for two days, I’d be in agonising pain and for my asthma, if I don’t take my inhaler at least once a day it will be hard to breathe.

As I rely on imported drugs, reading the Yellowhammer documents were terrifying.

“A pre-mitigation reasonable worst-case flow rate that could be as low as 40% D1ND (day one of no deal) via the short Channel Straits, with significant disruption lasting up to six months,” the document says.

“Unmitigated, this will have an impact on the supply of medicines and medical supplies.”

Leaving the debate of whether the document was altered to change base case to worst case aside again, this is still potentially six months of not having medicine.

That leaves me with one option, to stockpile enough medicine to get me through this disruption – but to what cost? As I only graduated from University this summer, the prescription charge makes it hard to do this. And besides, having to stockpile medicine is far from “normal”.

“The reliance of medicines and medical products’ supply chains on the short straits crossing make them particularly vulnerable to severe extended delays; three-quarters of medicines come via the short straits.

“Whilst some products can be stockpiled, other cannot due to short shelf lives – it will also not be practical to stockpile products to cover expected delays of up to six months,” the document continues.

This whole situation leaves me and people like me that rely on medicines like this worried about what life might be like on November 1 if we do leave with no deal.

Medicine is number one on the government’s list of priorities in the case of disruption following a no deal Brexit, and this is the situation when you scratch the surface. Imagine what it would be like, for example, with fresh food, a lot of which comes from the continent.

Whilst the government say they’re developing strategies to mitigate these risks, they’re playing Russian Roulette with people’s health. That’s why I believe that a no deal Brexit should not happen under any circumstances, as this could be the reality when I, and many others, wake up on November 1.