Stephen Barclay, the newly appointed Secretary of State for Health, is tasked with clearing record pandemic backlogs, preventing summer NHS strikes, and addressing crippling staff and bed shortages in the wider health and social care sectors.
Mr. Barclay, 50, replaces Sajid Javid, who abruptly resigned last night after questioning the Prime Minister’s integrity and claiming the government was no longer ‘competent’ in the wake of a series of scandals and controversies.
The new secretary of state is an experienced government official and one of Boris Johnson’s closest allies. In his 12 years as an MP, he has held a variety of positions in the Treasury and Cabinet, including Brexit minister under Theresa May and Chief of Staff at Downing Street under Boris Johnson.
In 2018, he served as a junior health minister for less than a year. Despite his brief tenure, he earned a reputation for efficiency, reportedly describing the NHS as a “bottomless pit.”
As he addresses the waiting list crisis and justifies the additional £12.5billion post-Covid cash injection into the NHS each year, paid for by a controversial 1.25 percent national insurance increase, efficiency will likely be a top priority.
In England, a record-breaking 6.5 million people are waiting for routine treatment, and this number is expected to continue rising for the next two years as patients return to the NHS following delays caused by the pandemic.
Hundreds of thousands of patients have waited for over a year, and hospitals are struggling to meet the government’s promise to eliminate two-year waits by the end of this month.
Mr. Barclay also faces the risk of strikes, as unions representing staff ranging from physicians to cleaners demand a 30 percent pay increase because the workforce is underpaid. In the coming months, industrial action votes are anticipated in what has been dubbed the “summer of discontent,” which could cripple the NHS.
Social care workers are also leaving in droves for better-paying and less stressful jobs in supermarkets, pubs, and hotels, which could result in substandard care for the elderly.
This has a knock-on effect on the bed crisis in the NHS, as older patients cannot be discharged due to the 160,000 unfilled positions.
Rapidly increasing Covid cases and hospital admissions will require Mr. Barclay to decide whether to reinstate face masks or other light social restrictions that his predecessor opposed, as well as whom to target with the fall rollout of the booster vaccine.
Mr. Barclay will inherit Mr. Javid’s white paper on health disparities, which was supposed to be published next week and outline how England would combat smoking and obesity.
He is also assuming the position amid a controversy over the introduction of woke language into NHS guidance, following a series of revelations by MailOnline. Mr. Javid ordered health service leaders to revert changes that removed ‘women’ and ‘breasts’ from guidance on menopause, womb cancer, and breastfeeding to be more inclusive of transgender individuals.
The new Health Secretary will be expected to stabilize the general practice crisis, which has left millions of patients unable to see a primary care physician or obtain an in-person appointment.
MailOnline’s analysis of official data revealed that only one-fourth of GP appointments in England is conducted face-to-face with a physician.
The remaining appointments are a combination of virtual or telephone consultations and appointments with practice nurses, physiotherapists, and even acupuncturists.
Patient rights organizations and some physicians have asserted that the problems in A&E are attributable in part to the fact that desperate patients who cannot see a doctor are flocking to emergency departments.
In response to Mr. Barclay’s appointment, NHS leaders cautioned that he faced “several significant and urgent challenges.”
“Trust leaders will welcome the swift appointment of Steve Barclay as the new secretary of state for health and social care,” said Saffron Cordery, chief executive of NHS Providers, the representative body for trusts.
He faces several significant and urgent obstacles. Covid continues to cast a long shadow over the NHS, with trust leaders bracing for a bumpy ride over the next few months as they contend with new and unpredictable variants of seasonal influenza and broader winter pressures.
NHS staff are working around the clock to reduce waiting lists and increase activity across the entire health system. However, nearly 6.5 million people are currently awaiting treatment, and this number is expected to rise. Care backlogs affect all aspects of the National Health Service, including mental health, community, and ambulance services.
In the coming weeks, close attention will be paid to how the new health and social care secretary addresses several significant challenges.
“At the top of his to-do list must be the severe workforce shortages across the NHS, with over 105,000 vacancies, and the upcoming NHS pay award, which will be determined against the backdrop of a soaring cost of living crisis.”
Mr. Barclay attended Sandhurst military academy and served in the British Army before enrolling at Cambridge University. Since 2010, he has been the representative for North East Cambridgeshire.
In a series of junior frontbench positions, he earned a reputation as a hardworking, loyal, and subservient minister.
Mr. Barclay was elevated to the Cabinet in 2018 when Theresa May appointed him Brexit Secretary, a position he retained even after Mr. Johnson took over, demonstrating his adaptability despite their vastly divergent views on leaving the EU.
During Mr. Javid’s final days in No. 11, he was demoted to No. 2 in the Treasury after his Brexit ministerial brief expired following the UK’s official exit from the EU. 18 months later, he returned to the cabinet as Cabinet Office minister.
In February of this year, following a series of scandals including Partygate, he was appointed Mr. Johnson’s chief of staff, in addition to his role as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster in the cabinet.
The appointment demonstrated Mr. Johnson’s confidence in the former Lancashire attorney. Mr. Barclay was the first member of parliament to hold the position, which was formerly known as the most powerful unelected official in the UK.
After the Chris Pincher scandal, he participated in a reorganization of No10 aimed at bringing “adults” into the room and stabilizing his boss’s premiership, which ultimately failed.
His promotion to Secretary of Health suggests that Mr. Johnson’s team does not necessarily hold him accountable.
The appointment occurred just hours after Mr. Javid and Chancellor Rishi Sunak resigned, citing a lack of confidence in the Prime Minister.
The resignation of Mr. Javid occurred less than a year after his return to the Cabinet. It is the second time he has resigned from Mr. Johnson’s government, following his resignation as Chancellor in February 2020 in response to a directive to dismiss his team of aides.
Mr. Javid wrote in a scathing letter, “The tone you set as a leader and the values you represent reflect on your colleagues, your party, and ultimately the nation.
Conservatives at their best are viewed as resolute, value-driven decision-makers. We may not have always been popular, but we have always acted in the national interest competently.
‘Unfortunately, under the current circumstances, the public believes we are neither. Last month’s vote of confidence demonstrated that the majority of our colleagues concur. It was a time for humility, resolve, and a new course of action.
‘I regret to say, however, that it is clear to me that this situation will not change under your leadership, and as a result, you have also lost my trust.’
Mr. Javid joined the Department of Health and Social Care in June 2021, following the resignation of his predecessor Matt Hancock from his Cabinet position for violating social distancing rules by kissing and embracing an aide in his office.
Taking the position amid a pandemic was a baptism by fire. He was appointed on June 26, just days before the so-called “freedom day” in the United Kingdom, when remaining restrictions on Covid-19 were lifted.
Mr. Javid emphasized that he was eager to assist the NHS in resuming normal operations and addressing the backlog of care while outlining plans to modernize the service.
In the autumn, however, the Omicron wave arrived in the United Kingdom, and the national focus shifted back to Covid-19.
The national booster program was expanded to include all adults, and the National Health Service prepared for another difficult winter battling coronavirus.
Mr. Javid did not deliver his first major speech as health secretary until March 2022, when he outlined his priorities for the service as “the four Ps”: prevention, personalization, performance, and people.
Commenting on Mr. Javid’s resignation, Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, stated: ‘Trust leaders thank Sajid Javid for his service, particularly in seeing through the largest health reforms in a decade in the form of the new Health and Social Care Act and his initiation of the Messenger review of NHS leadership.
“All eyes will be on how the new health and social care secretary addresses major challenges, including severe workforce shortages across the NHS, the upcoming NHS pay award amid the cost of living crisis, and the government’s New Hospitals Programme, which promises to provide the NHS with much-needed capital investment to benefit patients and the quality of care.
More support for an underfunded and overstretched social care system is also long overdue to alleviate mounting pressure throughout the entire health and care system.
Mr. Javid frequently asserted that he had a unique perspective on government affairs, having held multiple ministerial positions.
In 2010, he left a career in finance to become the Member of Parliament for Bromsgrove.
He held positions at the Treasury from 2012 until April 2014, when he was appointed culture secretary. In May 2015, he was appointed business secretary, and in July 2016, he was appointed housing secretary.
After being appointed home secretary in April 2018, Mr. Javid spoke openly about his early encounters with racism and how he ‘could have led a life of crime’ after growing up on “Britain’s most dangerous street.”
As a result of his appointment, he became the first British Asian to hold one of the nation’s highest offices. He was appointed to Mr. Johnson’s first cabinet as chancellor in July of 2019.
Six months into his position, and less than a month before delivering his first Budget, he resigned after being told he must fire all of his advisers if he wished to retain his position.
In roughly 16 months, Mr. Javid returned to Cabinet as health secretary, becoming the 31st individual to hold the position since the establishment of the NHS on 5 July 1948.
He is the son of a Pakistani bus driver who arrived in England in the 1960s with only one pound. Colleagues refer to him as The Saj.
Born in Rochdale and raised in Bristol, he attended a public school before attending Exeter University to study economics and politics.
Mr. Javid reached the final four in the 2019 contest to replace Theresa May as Tory leader, but subsequently withdrew and endorsed Mr. Johnson.
Mrs. Prime Minister Carrie Symonds served as Mr. Javid’s special adviser during his tenure as communities secretary.
WHO IS STEPHEN BARCLAY?
Mr. Barclay attended Sandhurst military academy and served in the British Army before enrolling at Cambridge University. Since 2010, he has been the representative for North East Cambridgeshire.
In a series of junior frontbench positions, he earned a reputation as a hardworking, loyal, and subservient minister.
Mr. Barclay was elevated to the Cabinet in 2018 when Theresa May appointed him Brexit Secretary, a position he retained even after Mr. Johnson took over, demonstrating his adaptability despite their vastly divergent views on leaving the EU.
During Mr. Javid’s final days in No. 11, he was demoted to No. 2 in the Treasury after his Brexit ministerial brief expired following the UK’s official exit from the EU.
18 months later, he returned to the cabinet as Cabinet Office minister.
In February of this year, following a series of scandals including Partygate, he was appointed Mr. Johnson’s chief of staff, in addition to his role as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster in the cabinet.
The appointment demonstrated Mr. Johnson’s confidence in the former Lancashire attorney.
Mr. Barclay was the first member of parliament to hold the position, which was formerly known as the most powerful unelected official in the UK.
After the Chris Pincher scandal, he participated in a reorganization of No10 aimed at bringing “adults” into the room and stabilizing his boss’s premiership, which ultimately failed.
His promotion to Secretary of Health suggests that Mr. Johnson’s team does not necessarily hold him accountable.
