The Patient's Association is running a survey on patients feelings about their GP surgery premises and how safe they would feel in going to a face-to-face appointment there while Covid-19 is still around. Please give your views on this important topic by clicking here and completing the survey.

Berkshire West CCG is consulting on the provision of Hydrotherapy. Please visit the web page to give your views. The Hydrotherapy pool is located on the West side of the RBH Reading site near the West Buildings from which Audiology and ENT are about to move their clinics. That area wiould be available for redevelopment if the pool was moved or removed.

The Government has announced that Public Health England is to be broken up and a new body "The Institute for Health Protection" is to be set up to focus on "external threats" to health, such as epidemics and biological weapons. But what will happen to vaccination, addiction prevention, reduction of obesity is unclear. The Royal Society for Public Health has stressed the importance of the prevention agenda.

South Reading Patient Voice meetings online via Zoom at 6pm on Wednesday 19th August 2020. We will discus many asects of the local health services - moves of Royal Berks clinics, redevelopment of the Royal Berks hospital, say-say access to primary care, patient safety etc. Please see the agenda attached. Contact arrangements have been circulated to members. If interested in membership please contact Tom Lake, Information Officer .

Reading Healthwatch has announced that the Royal Berks Hospital is to move clinics for Audiology, ENT and Plastic Surgery to Townlands Memorial hospital in Henley-on-Thames. Healthwatch Reading are inviting comments from the public so please follow the link and make yourself heard. WE HAVE NOW LEARNED THAT THE MOVE IS BASED ON AN INITIAL 12-MONTH LEASE with follow-up evaluation so facilities better during the COVID-19 period are pertinent. The move is to the upper floor of the Townlands Memorial "hospital" (it is really a clinic) in Henley-on-Thames which is held by Oxford Health on a 25-year PPP deal. The upper floor was intended for a rehabilitation ward and palliative care unit, but neither was found to be required later and so has not been in use since the opening in 2017. Unfortunately parking at the site is limited and access constrained which will be a difficulty for many who would be willing to drive to Henley.

One of the best sources of information on the state of the Coronavirus pandemic in the UK is the smartphone app "Covid Symptom Study" supplied by Zoe Global Ltd to the research team at King's College London under Prof Tim Spector, who is the organiser of the study. Please download and use the app yourself if you have the equipment - for Android phones from your Play Store, for Apple phones from your App Store, under the name "Covid Symptom Study". The associated study has shown about a doubling of prevalence of Covid-19 in Reading during August with the figure at 1030 cases per million indicating about 170 active cases in Reading at 13th August, up from about 70 in late July. All are urged to redouble their precautions against the virus. By 21st August the figure is down to 414 per million - the earlier figure looks like a temporary aberration.

In a flurry of consultations - you are now asked to give your views on improving the Royal Berkshire Hospital Trust's website.

The Royal Berkshire Hospital Trust has been awarded seed money from the Government to plan its recreation. Now it is up to you to say what you think a hospital should be like in th 21st Century and how it should fit into Reading and Western Berkshire. Please access the trust's consulation site and take their survey. Survey open through September.

The three local authorities across Berkshire West, Wokingham, Reading, West Berkshire are jointly working on a new Health and Wellbeing strategy. They are seeking your input - please take this survey and encourage others to do so.

The government has published its Obesity Strategy . The strategy includes measures to control promotion of foods high in fats, sugar and salt - controlling TV advertisements to be after 9pm, buy one get one free and display at checkout. Also revise labelling, including providing calorie totals on restaurant meals and on sales of alcohol. However, some maintain that diets low in carbohydrates and relatively high in fats promote weight loss. There are no further laws proposed to tax foods high in fats, salt and sugar, although the Sugary Drinks Tax has been very successful in encouraging manufacturers to reformulate their products with less sugar. In concert, Public Health England has kicked off a Better Health campaign.