The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care, Text was copied from this source, which is available under an Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.() commonly referred to as the Health Secretary (), is a cabinet position in the Scottish Government. The Cabinet Secretary is responsible for the Health and Social Care Directorates and NHS Scotland.
The current Cabinet Secretary is Angela Constance who has served since 8 February 2024. The Cabinet Secretary is assisted by the Minister for Public Health and Women's Health, Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing and the Minister for Drugs & Alcohol Policy and Sport.
History The position was created in 1999 as the Minister for Health and Community Care, with the advent of devolution and the institution of the Scottish Parliament, taking over some of the roles and functions of the former Scottish Office that existed prior to 1999. After the 2007 election the Ministerial position was renamed to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing.
After the 2011 election the full Ministerial title was Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy with the portfolio being expanded to include Cities Strategy which was part of the SNP manifesto to have a dedicated "Minister for Cities"; at the same time the responsibility for housing was removed and transferred to the new Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment. Responsibilities for the cities strategy and the delivery of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow were later transferred to other members of the cabinet.
After the 2016 election, the name of the post was changed to simply Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport. In the 2021 cabinet reshuffle, the post was retitled to Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.
First Minister Humza Yousaf retitled the role as Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care, appointing Michael Matheson in March 2023 then Neil Gray in February 2024. Upon the formation of the Swinney government, the post was reverted to its previous Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care title.
Overview Responsibilities The responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care include:
acute services allied healthcare services centre of excellence for rural and remote medicine and social care community care eHealth health and social care integration health improvement and protection NHS estate NHS performance patient services and patient safety person-centred care primary care and GPs quality and improvement unscheduled care workforce, training, planning, and pay
Public bodies and Directorates The following public bodies and directorates report to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: NHS Scotland Care Inspectorate Healthcare Improvement Scotland Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland Scottish Social Services Council Sportscotland
Directorates Chief Medical Officer Directorate Chief Nursing Officer Directorate Chief Operating Officer, NHS Scotland Directorate Digital Health and Care Directorate Health Workforce Directorate Health and Social Care Finance, Digital and Governance Directorate Healthcare Quality and Improvement Directorate Mental Health Directorate Population Health Directorate Primary Care Directorate Social Care and National Care Service Development
List of office holders
NamePortraitEntered officeLeft officePartyFirst MinisterMinister for Health and Community Care Susan Deacon 19 May 199928 November 2001Scottish LabourDonald DewarHenry McLeish Malcolm Chisholm 28 November 20016 October 2004Jack McConnell Andy Kerr 6 October 200417 May 2007Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon 17 May 200719 May 2011Scottish National PartyAlex SalmondCabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy Nicola Sturgeon 19 May 20115 September 2012Scottish National PartyAlex SalmondCabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Alex Neil 5 September 201221 November 2014Scottish National PartyAlex SalmondCabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport Shona Robison 21 November 201418 May 2016Scottish National PartyNicola SturgeonCabinet Secretary for Health and Sport Shona Robison 18 May 2016 26 June 2018Scottish National PartyNicola Sturgeon Jeane Freeman 26 June 2018 19 May 2021Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Humza Yousaf 19 May 2021 28 March 2023Scottish National PartyNicola SturgeonCabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care Michael Matheson 29 March 2023 8 February 2024 Scottish National PartyHumza Yousaf Neil Gray 8 February 2024 8 May 2024Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Neil Gray 8 May 2024 20 May 2026 Scottish National PartyJohn SwinneyCabinet Secretary for Health and Care Angela Constance20 May 2026IncumbentScottish National PartyJohn Swinney
References
External links Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on Scottish Government website