Thérèse Coffey: convivial pragmatist inherits health service in crisis

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

61% : Coffey, a close friend of new PM, faces daunting task as she becomes third health and social care secretary in two months Thérèse Coffey is a beer, music and football-loving MP whose lively karaoke parties are the stuff of legend at Westminster.
54% : Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) officials should brace themselves for a very demanding new boss.
49% : A huge cash injection is not an option, especially given Truss's pledge to cancel the 1.25% rise in national insurance which began in April and was expected to yield £12bn a year for the NHS.
44% : Her most pressing problems are the long delays facing ambulance crews waiting to hand patients over to A&E staff, patients' difficulty getting GP appointments and the fact that about one in eight hospital beds in England is occupied by someone who is medically fit to leave - but cannot be discharged because social care is unavailable to keep them safe.
39% : A colleague says: "Her political views are of the free market and the hard right wing, including strong anti-abortion views."

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