Helen Whately returns as Care Minister

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has appointed Helen Whately as the country’s care minister – a job she previously held at the height of the Covid pandemic.

Yes, Home Secretary Suella Braverman is not the only government minister to have boomeranged back into government thanks to Rishi Sunak. Ms Whately joins Mr Sunak’s government as care minister, having worked with him as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury between 16 September 2021 until 8 July 2022.

As part of Mr Sunak’s cabinet reshuffle, Steve Barclay has also returned as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. He replaces Therese Coffey who has moved to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Mr Barclay was first appointed as health secretary by Boris Johnson’s government after Sajid Javid quit. His return to the top health job comes seven weeks after he was replaced as health secretary under the Liz Truss government.

Care leaders may feel a sense of déjà vu with a lack of government action to fix social care and the reappointment of care minister Helen Whately who has been criticised for the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and guidance given to care homes.

Care minister: 'There were times, I thought I could do with a few hours off'

Helen Whately was the country’s care minister at the start of the Covid pandemic, having held the post from 13 February 2020 until 16 September 2021.

She posted news of her new job on Twitter, with the words: 'Delighted and honoured to be appointed Minister of State at @DHSCgovuk by Prime Minister @RishiSunak. Looking forward to working with @SteveBarclay & rest of the team.'

Speaking, in March 2021, as a guest on the Let’s Talk About Care podcast in her role as care minister during the pandemic, Helen Whately defended the government’s handling of the pandemic and care home guidance.

She said of her first few weeks as care minister: “That was also the point at which the pandemic was 'taking off' with people dying of Covid in care homes. My focus was on what were the things [the] government could do from our position."

Under fire for government decisions concerning social care early in the pandemic while frontline care staff battled to save lives, the minister was asked if there were times in the last year that she had wanted to quit.

She replied: "There were times when I thought 'Oh I could do with a few hours off'."

Minister says she supported care homes ‘through the second wave’

Far from admitting the government failed to deliver what the care sector needed early on in the pandemic, the minister said: “We worked with the NHS on being able to provide more supplies of PPE but as everyone knows that was a time when there was a global shortage of PPE."

Ms Whately said she helped, particularly through the summer of 2020, to support care homes and the sector “through the second wave”.

To listen to Let’s Talk About Care’s interview with Helen Whately in March 2021, in which she talked about her role as care minister click here