Dr Luke Evans, Member of Parliament for Hinckley and Bosworth, has been made Shadow Minister of State for Health, drawing on his experience as a junior doctor and GP before being first elected in 2019.
Dr Evans trained and worked as a junior doctor in the NHS in Birmingham and qualified in 2007. From 2013 he worked as a GP before standing in the General Election in December 2019.
Soon after his election, Dr Evans joined the Health and Social Care Select Committee where he stayed for nearly three years - including throughout the Covid-19 pandemic - and helped to shape national health policy.
The local MP has worked in several Government departments over the past two years, which he calls “a fantastic opportunity.”
In 2022 Dr Evans was made Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Home Secretary Priti Patel, before being moved to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to assist the Secretary of State at the time, Jacob Rees-Mogg.
When Sir Rees-Mogg went to the backbenches, Dr Evans became PPS to Grant Shapps in the Department which was later separated from responsibility for Business, and named the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Dr Evans stayed with Shapps when he was made Secretary of State for the Ministry of Defence.
After he was re-elected, Dr Evans was made Shadow Minister of State for Creative Industries, Media and Tourism in Rishi Sunak’s interim Shadow Cabinet.
Following the election of Kemi Badenoch as Leader of the Conservative Party, Dr Evans was made Shadow Health Minister and will work alongside fellow Leicestershire MP Ed Argar (Shadow Health Secretary), and fellow medic Dr Caroline Johnson (also a Shadow Minister).
Dr Evans has become known for his speeches on the NHS, which list the short-, mid- and long-term ways in which he would improve healthcare across the nation.
Over the last few weeks the local MP has been raising concerns around the impact of changes from the Budget on employers National Insurance Contributions to GP practices, care homes, hospices and pharmacies.
In response to one of Dr Evans’ questions in the Commons on the impact of these changes, Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, Chair of British Medical Association for General Practitioners, said “Thank you, Luke. GPs are watching. GPs are listening. The Budget may cause the hand-back of 100s of NHS GP Practices.”
Dr Luke Evans, Member of Parliament for Hinckley and Bosworth, said “Training and working as a junior doctor in the NHS and then as a GP, has shown me not only the very best of our health system, but also the ways in which we can improve and innovate for the future.
“I am delighted to accept the position of Shadow Health Minister and I'm looking forward to working with the Shadow Health team. I will continue to make representations to the Government so that we can improve healthcare both locally and nationally.”
