What is Secretary of State for Health and Social Care?
The '''Secretary of State for Health and Social Care''', often called the '''health secretary''', is a [[Secretary of State|secretary of state]] in the [[Government of the United Kingdom]], responsible for the work of the [[Department of Health and Social Care]]. They are a member of the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom]]. The first one was in 1968. For 30 years, from 1988 to 2018, it was called '''Secretary of State for Health.''' Before 1988 the department was the '''Department of Health and Social Security.''' Since [[devolution]] in 1999, the responsibility for the [[National Health Service|NHS]] is mostly the health service in England, with the ministers in Scotland and Wales responsible for the NHS in Scotland and Wales. The current health secretary is [[Wes Streeting]] who was appointed by [[Keir Starmer]] on 5 July 2024.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Secretary of State for Health and Social Care - GOV.UK|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/secretary-of-state-for-health-and-social-care|access-date=2023-03-13|website=www.gov.uk|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Wes Streeting named new health and social care secretary|url=https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/policies-and-guidance/wes-streeting-named-new-health-and-social-care-secretary-05-07-2024/|access-date=2024-07-05|website=Nursing Times|language=en}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Secretaries of State for Health and Social Care| ]]