Sir Keir Starmer has appointed Wes Streeting as the new secretary of state for health and social care, the new Prime Minister announced today (July 5).
Streeting has been the shadow health secretary since 2021 and was widely expected to be appointed to the cabinet post.
But Streeting experienced election night drama, as he was returned to the Ilford North seat by the skin of his teeth with just 528 votes more than the second-placed independent candidate.
Read more: Pharmacist defeats GP as voters issue a potent prescription for Labour
Labour’s landslide victory saw two registered pharmacists elected to parliament - newcomer Sadik Al-Hassan in North Somerset and the returning Taiwo Owatemi in Coventry North West.
Streeting has portrayed himself as a believer in the role of community pharmacy. In an exclusive opinion article for C+D he said the sector would be “at the forefront of the rapid innovation in life sciences over the coming years”.
Streeting suggested that this role could entail community pharmacies recruiting candidates for clinical trials, in a recorded video for the Sigma conference in February.
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In April, Streeting suggested that a Labour government would look to shift “the proportion of NHS funding that goes into primary care, including community pharmacy” as he argued that it would “lead to better outcomes for patients [and] taxpayers' money”.
He has been consistent on this line. In 2022, C+D’s first report that focused on Streeting saw him declare that the community pharmacy should “play a bigger role in primary care”.
