The Berkshire West Primary Care Commissioning Committee meets in public at the Oakwood Centre, Woodley, RG5 4JZ on 7th December from 1pm to 4.30pm. To attend register using this link (or by phone 0300 123 6264) by 12 noon on the 6th December. Papers will be available on the South Reading CCG primary care committee page.

The Governing Body of South Reading CCG meets in public at 9.30-12,30 on Wednesday 7th December 2016 at the Museum of English Rural Life, Redlands Road, RG1 5EX. To attend use this link to register or phone 0300 123 6264 by 12 noon on the 6th December. Questions must be provided in advance - please email ppiteam.berkshirewest@nhs.net or phone to 0300123 6264.

There will be a public consultation meeting on Reading's second Health and Wellbeing Strategy in the Council Chamber, Civic Offices, Bridge Steet from 1pm to 4pm on Monday 21st November 2016. If intending to attend please notify Nina Crispin via email at Nina.Crispin@reading.gov.uk or via telephone on 0118 937 2383. The strategy is on the Reading Borough website . You can also use the online consultation .

Our next meeting will be at 6pm on Wednesday, 30th November 2016, when we will discuss the impact of the Five Year Transformation Plan on Reading. The meeting will be at 94, London Street, Reading RG1 4SJ. We will also discuss latest news from Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) at member surgeries and news from our CCG, Healthwatch and other local organisations involved in health and wellbeing.

Reading Borough has published a draft of its Second Health and Wellbeing Strategy covering 2017-2020 and is consulting residents on the strategy. The consultation closes on 11th December 2016. The strategy consists of 7 priorities drawn from the JSNA (Joint Strategic Needs Assessment).

1. Supporting people to make healthy lifestyle choices - dental care, reducing obesity, increasing physical activity, reducing smoking
2. Reducing loneliness and social isolation
3. Reducing the amount of alcohol people drink to safe levels
4. Promoting positive mental health and wellbeing in children and young people
5. Making Reading a place where people can live well with dementia
6. Increasing breast and bowel screening and prevention services
7. Reducing the number of people with tuberculosis

While it is good to see these positive priorities, the strategy does not explain what we will have to give lower priority to in order to advance these chosen priorities.

A recent report comissioned from Reading Healthwatch about people taking themselves to A&E shows that most people are not making the wrong decision in attending. Members of South Reading Patient Voice volunteered to help Reading Healthwatch complete the "Week in A&E" survey. The recent report shows that many patients had been recommended to attend A&E at RBH by another NHS service from which they had first sought help. The report made recommendations for improvement in the A&E waiting room and its management, for possible privision of X-ray facilities at the Reading Walk-In Centre and for better information for patients as to where to go in a medical emergency.

Despite a petition with over 2 million signatures, funding to pharmacies is to be reduced.v/ Cuts will fall hardest on the smaller pharmacies unless they are the only pharmacy for their community. Please see the attached document for further details.

Community rehabilitation beds at Oakwood Ward, Prospect Park Hospital, are being cut from 35 to 24. Oakwood Ward, at Prospect Park Hospital, is a 35 single-roomed self-contained rehabilitation unit of the PFI funded site. The single room nature is not ideal for the predominantly frail elderly patients and requires a large nursing staff to ensure safety and quality. Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, has been unable to staff the ward without using an excessive number of agency staff. The South Reading CCG has agreed that the number of beds in use can be reduced to 24 with the same number of rehabilitation therapists available. This should help reduce the length of stay. leading to better use of the ward. In addition, some beds will be funded at the Duchess of Kent hospice which has more places now that the community end of life service is operating.

At the September meeting of the South Reading CCG Governing Body it was decided that Vasectomy would no longer be available as a normal NHS treatment in the South Reading CCG area. .This measure is being applied across Western Berkshire and is thought to save about 75.000. However, there could be consequential costs which could easily reduce or eliminate the saving. To the public present this measure had rather the feeling of being a softening-up exercise for harsher cuts to come or perhaps a measure to demonstrate that something was being done. Patients with a medical need for vasectomy can still make an IFR (independent funding request) through their surgery for exceptional treatment.

John Broughall will be talking on "Antibiotic Resistance" at the Cafe Scientifique meeting on 3rd October at 7.30pm at Smokin Billys, 61 St Marys Butts, Reading RG1 2LG. All welcome. 20% off on food ordered beforehand!