[The last specialist secretary of state in the Netherlands: Els Borst-Eilers].

The announcement of the appointment of Hugo de Jonge as the Netherlands Secretary of State for Health means that there is little chance of having a 'specialist' in this post in the near future. Els Borst-Eilers is generally considered to have been the last specialist Secretary of State for Health in the Netherlands. Whether or not she can rightly be considered to be a specialist, this was certainly the image that she cultivated and also used for political ends, for instance, to depoliticise sensitive issues.