Reading Borough Council are seeking views from people who use health and social care services, to understand the likely impact of commissioning a single Local Healthwatch for Reading and Wokingham. The consultation is being conducted by Reading Borough Council on behalf of both councils involved and will run from Tuesday 19 December 2017 to Tuesday 6 February 2018. Have your say and let them know your views. The consultation questionnaire can be completed at: www.reading.gov.uk/yourlocalhealthwatch.

Fiona Wise is the new executive lead of the Western Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Sustainable Transformation Partnership. Ms Wise has extensive experience leading several NHS trusts.

Responding to Wednesday's Budget statement, Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said: Patients, their families and carers will not have been reassured by the Chancellors commitments in this week's Budget." "He has rightly recognised that the current NHS funding settlement is inadequate, but he has fumbled his response: his cash injection will be inadequate for next year, and there is no sign of a shift to the sustainable long-term settlement for health and social care that we so desperately need. The extra 1.6 billion promised for next year is nowhere near the 4 billion calculated as necessary by leading health think tanks, just to keep services at their current levels. Instead, the Treasury appears to be demanding that the NHS return to meeting the 4-hour A&E target and reduce its waiting lists in return for the extra funding. Unfortunately, this is fantasy: this level of funding will not halt the slide in NHS performance, in which patients are waiting longer for surgery, being treated on trolleys in corridors, and increasingly being threatened with having to leave their homes just to receive day-to-day care. NHS England will have no choice but to continue its desperate scrabble for cash through measures such as restrictions on low value and over-the-counter medicines. The Chancellors complete silence on the ongoing crisis in social care is also deeply disappointing. The recent announcement of a green paper for next year, with its worrying split between over-65 and working age social care, does not mean there is not an urgent need to address the funding crisis in social care today. Shockingly, there is not a single mention of social care in the entire Red Book. The announcement on capital funding also promises more than it delivers: only 3.5 billion of the 10 billion touted by the Chancellor in his speech is new money the rest comes from implementing the Naylor Review as already planned and an expectation of new private finance. That said, further resource for the vital task of transforming services to meet the needs of our changing population is welcome. Despite the dreadful growth and productivity forecasts, we remain a wealthy nation with a world class healthcare system that can deliver when given the tools (and we shouldnt forget that the NHSs productivity performance has been outstripping the economy as a whole by a mile in recent years). It should not be placed in the position of having to limit and reduce its services for sheer want of funds. Patients affection for the NHS should be matched by the confidence they can feel in its ability to care for them, and their loved ones. Instead, after todays Budget, patients will look to the future wondering what the NHS wont be able to do for them in the future that it can do today. The Chancellor has missed another chance to show leadership and secure the sustainability of the NHS for the long term.

South Reading Patient Voice will be meeting at 6pm on Wednesday, 25th October at the Reading Community Learning Centre, 94, London Street, RG1 4SJ. Our speakers will be Kim Seabrook and two others from Arthritis Matters, a local charity. We will also hear news from Healthwatch and from Patient Participation Groups as well as about the local health economy.

South Reading Patient Voice will be meeting at 6pm on Wednesday, 27th September at 94, London Street, Reading RG14SJ - Reading Community Learning Centre. We will hear a talk from David Cooper - until recently Lead Governor at the Royal Berkshire Hospital Trust. We will also discuss our response to the proposal to merge Berkshire West CCGs and create an Accountable Care System, news from local Patient Participation Groups and the local health economy.

South Reading Patient Voice will be meeting at 6pm on Wednesday, 26th July at 94, London Street, Reading RG14SJ - Reading Community Learning Centre. We will hear a talk from Lynda McAdam GP Chair of Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, about the range of nursing services that are now being delivered in the community. We will also discuss news from local Patient Participation Groups and the local health economy.

South Reading Patient Voice will be meeting at 6pm on Wednesday, 28th June at 94, London Street, Reading RG14SJ - Reading Community Learning Centre. We will hear a talk from Dr Bu Thava, GP Chair of the South Reading CCG Governing Body, about the challenges facing the CCG and how it plans to deal with them. We will also discuss news from local Patient Participation Groups and the local health economy.

South Reading Patient Voice will be meeting at 6pm on Wednesday, 28th June at 94, London Street, Reading RG14SJ - Reading Community Learning Centre. We will hear a talk from Dr Bu Thava, GP Chair of the South Reading CCG Governing Body, about the challenges facing the CCG and how it plans to deal with them. We will also discuss news from local Patient Participation Groups and the local health economy.

South Reading Patient Voice will be meeting at 6pm on Wednesday, 31st May at 94, London Street, Reading RG14SJ - Reading Community Learning Centre. We will hear a talk about Macmillan Cancer Awareness Education in the Community from organiser Nisha Sharma and Christine Cowap of Macmillan Cancer Charity. Activity in Reading is being modelled on successful work in Rushmoor near Aldershot where Rushmoor Healthy Living has carried out similar work with its extensive local Nepali community and other less engaged groups. We will also discuss news from local Patient Participation Groups and the local health economy.

South Reading Patient Voice will be meeting at 6pm on Wednesday, 26th April at 94, London Street, Reading RG14SJ - Reading Community Learning Centre. We will discuss holding a Health and Social Care Hustings in the General Election and what sort of questions should be put to the candidates. We will also hear news from local practices PPGs and from Reading Healthwatch.