Community pharmacy and healthcare leaders have welcomed the appointment of Yvette Cooper as Health Secretary in the newly-formed Andy Burnham cabinet.

Cooper, who had previously served as Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary, takes over the health portfolio from James Murray, who held the post from May to July, following the resignation of Wes Streeting.

She had earlier served as health minister between 1999 and 2002 under Tony Blair.

Responding to Cooper’s appointment, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) Chief Executive Janet Morrison said: “We welcome the appointment of Yvette Cooper as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. She takes on the role at a pivotal moment for the future of the NHS, with growing recognition of the vital contribution that local pharmacies make to improving patient access to care and delivering it closer to home.

“Pharmacies remain under considerable pressure, and maintaining momentum on reform and sector sustainability, as well as building on the investment and sector contributions to date, will be vital. We stand ready to work constructively with the new Secretary of State and her team to help deliver the Government's health ambitions alongside the support, reform and investment that pharmacies desperately need.”

Commenting on the departure of former pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock, Morrison added: “Stephen Kinnock has been an engaged and constructive minister, who has gone into bat for community pharmacy. We thank him for this, and for the time he has taken to understand the challenges and opportunities for community pharmacy and their value to communities.”

Kinnock's successor in the pharmacy brief has yet to be announced.

NPA seeks business rates relief

National Pharmacy Association (NPA) Chief Executive Henry Gregg said: “We look forward to working with Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and her ministerial team, to deliver rapid improvements to health and social care in communities across the country, by harnessing the unique potential of the pharmacy network.

“Pharmacies are in the centre of every community and are perfect partners for the new Prime Minister’s instinct for place-based planning. Pharmacists understand that healthcare works best when it is preventative, embedded in the community and locally informed.

“The former minister for pharmacy, Stephen Kinnock, worked hard with our sector to begin reversing a decade of funding cuts - but there is a long way still to go. We now need to go further and faster to make community pharmacies a centrepiece of primary care reform, delivering fundamental improvements for patients and places everywhere.

“Andy Burnham’s pledge to reform business rates in order to provide greater support for high-street businesses is quite right. Pharmacies are at the heart of every high street and should benefit from the business rate relief already given to other parts of the NHS, so that we can continue to provide vital healthcare in every neighbourhood.”

Primary care and patient group reactions

Sir Ciarán Devane, chief executive of The NHS Alliance, said: "On behalf of our members, we welcome Yvette Cooper's appointment as the new secretary of state for health and social care.

"The most important thing the NHS needs now is clarity and continuity as it is already going through a major reorganisation and there is much support for the government's 10-Year Health Plan.

"Local NHS leaders are making progress in reducing elective waiting lists, boosting productivity and working closely with local public sector partners to improve health outcomes. We call on the new secretary of state for health and social care to continue with the current direction of travel as any changes now risk slowing progress and diverting attention away from the delivery of better care for patients.

"Improving health outcomes also requires action to support social care, which is long overdue. We therefore welcome the new Prime Minister’s plan to bring about reform of social care, helping to ensure that adult social care services are funded properly and meet the needs of people across the country."

Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, said: “Given this new focus, long overdue need for action and the Prime Minister’s personal commitment to fix social care, social care reform should be at the top of Yvette Cooper's in-tray. The new Prime Minister has already spoken about his desire for social care to operate on an ‘NHS principle’ and pointed to the billions, as our recent work highlights, that delayed discharges cost to the health service a year. To deliver this, the new Secretary of State will have to move at speed.”

Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said: "We congratulate Yvette Cooper on her appointment as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. She takes on the role at a pivotal moment for patients and the health system: the NHS Modernisation Bill is at a decisive stage, and seven in ten patients tell us they are never asked what matters to them in their care.

"Our message to the new Secretary of State is simple: patients need more than a voice, they need change. That means genuine partnership in the Bill and in the delivery of the 10 Year Health Plan, designing care pathways with patients, not just consulting them, so people can navigate a system that too often leaves them uncertain. It means guaranteeing a truly independent patient voice in the Bill itself, to hold the Department to account. It means eradicating corridor care, so no one is left on a trolley when they are frightened and in pain and bringing forward the Casey Commission's timetable, so patients aren't left waiting for care that’s already overdue.”

Cooper vows to support NHS

Outlining her initial focus, Cooper shared on X that social care and maternity services would top her agenda: “I’m looking forward to working urgently to improve maternity services, to take forward plans for social care, and to once again play a part in supporting our National Health Service, Labour’s proudest achievement.”

“Most of all I’m looking forward to working with the dedicated NHS staff, carers, healthcare professionals, and volunteers on whom we all depend.”

During her earlier tenure as health minister, she was involved in delivering the first NHS Cancer Plan in 2000 and launching the Sure Start programme.

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