13.05.15
New team at the Department of Health
Two new health ministers have been appointed by David Cameron to assist Jeremy Hunt at the Department of Health.
Alistair Burt is taking the position formerly held by Norman Lamb as minister for state, while Ben Gummer joins the department as a parliamentary under secretary. Dan Poulter has stood down as a health minister.
So what do the new appointments mean for the NHS?
Burt is a veteran MP who has been in Parliament since 1983 and has served in several government departments, most recently the FCO.
Speaking on the role of private providers in the NHS, he said: “The very small element of private sector involvement in the NHS will continue under any future government.”
Gummer meanwhile comes to the department after serving as parliamentary private secretary to Nicky Morgan, the education secretary.
He ran on a platform to keep services at his local Ipswich Hospital and the Ipswich Star says he was a “key figure in the battle to bring improved heart services to Ipswich Hospital”.
It seems as if Burt will very much tow the party line, while Gummer may be too junior in the department to have much of an influence. With the loss of Lamb any calming, anti-privatisation voice appears to be lost.
(Image source: AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)
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