Message from Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Whether you’ve been visiting people’s homes or working in care settings, you’ve combined
care with controlling COVID-19. I understand how it has made your job so much harder,
but the whole country has seen that it hasn’t stopped you from delivering the very best
care. You’ve kept people safe and kept up their spirits, and I know the return of small
pleasures, like visits indoors from family members and walks in the garden, is making a
great deal of difference.

You’ve helped us through this pandemic; now you’re helping us vaccinate our way out of it.
I’ve been impressed by how you worked so closely with NHS colleagues to offer COVID19 jabs to all older residents in those few short weeks after we began vaccinating. It was an astonishing pace, and I’m so grateful. I now ask that those working in care who are yet to get the jab make it their top priority. It’s a step that we know saves lives.

The importance of social care— and the people who deliver it — has played a big part in
many of the jobs I’ve taken on in government. As Local Government Secretary, I was your
voice calling for billions of pounds of extra funding into the sector. As Chancellor, I worked
to put in billions more.

As Health and Social Care Secretary, it’s now my job to help put social care on a
sustainable footing for the future. I’ll be working closely with the Prime Minister and so
many others on that vital national challenge. I’m determined we get it right. Any proposal
we bring forward will build on the spirit of integrated working you’ve embraced so
enthusiastically, because we know we’re at our best when we work as one.

This past 18 months, you’ve all moved mountains to keep people safe. You don’t only
have my gratitude, but my word that I will now do everything I can to look out for you.

Yours ever,
RT HON SAJID JAVID MP
From the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Department of Health and Social Care
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU