Alan Johnson has today been appointed as England’s new health secretary by Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
The former education secretary replaces Patricia Hewitt who resigned last night. In a letter to Brown, Hewitt said she has decided to step down to give more time to her “constituency and family.”
Johnson, 57, was the runner-up in the Labour Party’s deputy leadership contest earlier this month and has been MP for Kingston-upon-Hull West and Hessle since 1997.
Whilst campaigning for the deputy leadership position, he said of health: “We need a proper dialogue with health workers, who still felt undervalued. The government have listened a bit too much to the British Medical Association (BMA) and not enough to unions like Unison. Maybe what we should be doing is bringing the unions in the health service much more closely into the social partnership.”
A former postman, he has been a key member of outgoing Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s cabinets since 2004 serving as the work and pensions secretary, trade and industry secretary and most recently, education secretary.
Unison welcomed his appointment describing him as “someone we can work with.”
General secretary, Dave Prentis, said: “We sincerely welcome Alan Johnson to the job, he is someone we can do business with, and it presents staff, patients and government with a clear opportunity to make a fresh start.
“We do hope that the new minister seizes this golden opportunity to listen much more to the real experts in the NHS: staff and patients. NHS leaders need to urgently switch the focus from endless and costly reorganisations and privatisation to more compassionate, patient-centred health care.
“Despite the service receiving record investment, every organisation working in and around the NHS concludes that the recent direction of travel of government policy has unnecessarily damaged and divided our NHS. We need to start treating NHS staff as part of the solution to delivering high quality services, rather than part of the problem.”
The BMA said they were looking forward to working with Johnson and will be seeking a meeting as soon as possible.
Acting chairman of the BMA, Dr Sam Everington, said: “The new Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he wants change in the NHS. Doctors have the ideas to realise change, we see patients every day and we know what works and what doesn’t. At our annual meeting this week doctors appealed for the government to work with them and listen to them.
“The appointment of a new health secretary provides an excellent opportunity for doctors and government to work together to improve patient care.”