Adult Social Care “Must be Priority” for New Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Yvette Cooper has replaced James Murray as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. The new health secretary was previously foreign secretary and home secretary under Sir Keir Starmer’s Government.
Following her appointment last night Cooper posted on social media that she was looking forward to ‘working urgently to improve maternity services, to take forward plans for social care and to once again play a part in supporting our National Health Service’.
Cooper added: ‘Most of all I’m looking forward to working with the dedicated NHS staff, carers, healthcare professionals and volunteers on whom we all depend.’
Reaction from across the health and care sector has focused on the scale of the challenge facing the new health secretary, with leading figures urging a sustained focus on prevention and long-term reform rather than short-term fixes.
Welcoming the appointment Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, Layla Moran MP said: “We welcome Yvette Cooper to this incredibly important role and urge this government to prioritise adult social care. We have long argued that kicking this issue into the long grass itself has a great cost to the economy, carers and families.
“You cannot achieve reform of the NHS while sidelining social care. Patients cannot be discharged from hospital beds if the right care isn’t available, and that means treatments are postponed and longer waits in A&E.
“We stand ready to work with the government and Baroness Casey, as soon as her proposals are presented, to make reform a reality. And we look forward to discussing these issues with the new Secretary of State at an early stage.”
The cross-party Committee recently published a report stating that the government had “no excuse” not to press on with reforming social care before the next general election.
Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King’s Fund, said the new secretary of state had been given a clear instruction to tackle social care reform without delay. She called for renewed momentum behind prevention work that had lost pace in recent years, encouraging a cross-government approach where health considerations are built into decisions on housing, employment and other areas of policy.
Woolnough suggested that plans to extend devolution could support this shift, arguing that addressing these wider factors could meaningfully improve public health by heading off illness before it develops and easing pressure on services.
She noted that the previous government had recognised the urgency of improving access to and experience of health and care services, but that its attention to cutting elective waiting times had left little room to address deeper, structural problems. In her view, the current administration now has a chance to take the difficult decisions needed to put social care — and the health service more broadly — on a sustainable footing for the future.
Sir Ciarán Devane, chief executive of The NHS Alliance, said:”On behalf of our members, we welcome Yvette Cooper’s appointment as the new secretary of state for health and social care.
“The most important thing the NHS needs now is clarity and continuity as it is already going through a major reorganisation and there is much support for the government’s 10-Year Health Plan.
“Local NHS leaders are making progress in reducing elective waiting lists, boosting productivity and working closely with local public sector partners to improve health outcomes. We call on the new secretary of state for health and social care to continue with the current direction of travel as any changes now risk slowing progress and diverting attention away from the delivery of better care for patients.
“Improving health outcomes also requires action to support social care, which is long overdue. We therefore welcome the new Prime Minister’s plan to bring about reform of social care, helping to ensure that adult social care services are funded properly and meet the needs of people across the country.”
