Berkshire West Primary Care Commissioning Committee Meets on Wednesday, 9th January at 57-59, Bath Road, Reading RG30 2BA. Please register here or phone 0118 982 2922 by noon on 8th Janiary to attend. Questions relating to the agenda should be submitted by email to bwccg.enquiries@nhs.net or by phone to 0118 892 2922.

Reading Health and Wellbeing Board meets on Friday, 18th January 2019 at 2pm in the Civic Officers, Bridge Street, Reading. Printed copies of the papers will not be provided (apart from the agenda) so please arrange your own printed or electronic copies.

South Reading Patient Voice will meet at 6pm on Wednesday, 31st January 2018 at 94, London Street RG1 4SJ (please use rear door through car park) to hear speakers from Reading Voluntary Action to hear about the influence of loneliness and isolation on health and discuss plans for improving these aspects of people's lives. The meeting is open to all patients living in the South Reading Clinical Commissioning Group area (most of Reading South of the River Thames) and others by invitation. We will also discuss news about our local health and social care system including reports from Patient Participation Groups at GP practices.

Chris Hopson, in a letter to the Health Secretary, said that the current winter pressures marked a watershed moment for the NHS and that the Government must accept that the service could no longer deliver what was required of it under current funding. He said that key decision on increased funding were needed by the 2018 budget in November at the latest. Read more here.

On 11th January 2018 the Care Quality Commission gave the Royal Berkshire Hospital, which it had inspected at the end of 2017, a rating of Outstanding, although it was only able to give the Trust as a whole a rating of Good since it had not inspected the four satellite locations of the Trust. Click here to read the full report. A few of the highlights of the report: The internal culture of the Trust clearly evidenced an exceptional and outstanding approach to delivering care and treatment, making patients and relatives feel valued, involved and empowered. Of particular note is the consistency of this culture, displayed by staff of all grades and disciplines, by governors, by the large body of volunteers, and by the senior executive team. Cardiology had the most effective 24/7 heart attack service nationally for seven consecutive years. . The Stroke Unit was rated overall A. Ortho-geriatrics is in the top quartile nationally for best practice tariff achievement, length of stay and 30 day mortality rate.

The Reading Health and Wellbeing Board meets in the Civic Offices on Bridge Street at 2pm on Friday, 19th Janaury 2018 .

From reports by The Guardian" and also the BBC we learn that hospitals have been instructed to some planned operations to free up hospital beds for an expected surge in in-patients over the winter months. As yet we have no information about the application of this instruction locally.

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.