On Tuesday 14th June from 2pm to 4pm at St Laurence's Church, Friar Street, the two Reading CCGs will be laying out changes planned for GP services and for services for older people and will answer your questions on these topics and on other major changes coming in the local NHS. This is a consultation meeting covering major changes to come in our local health and social care. Don't miss your chance to hear about them and to provide you views on changes to GP services, to the care of older people and on other major changes to come. To attend book your place using this link or telephone 01189 822 709. See the poster for this event .

If you have observed or experienced harm from NHS medical treatment you have many ways of making sure that your experience doesn't go unrecorded. You can report a formal complaint, an informal complaint, or log your experience anonymously and quickly. Or you may wish to compliment the provider of your treatment. To log your experience of harm or risk anonymously and quickly click here for the National Patient Safety Agency Reporting Page. To find out about making a complaint or to get help with making a complaint or understanding what has happened contact Reading Healthwatch on 0118 937 2295 or by email at info@readinghealthwatch.co.uk. For GP surgeries, dentists, opticians, complaints or compliments should be made to the Practice Manager at the practice - see the NHS Choices web site where you can search for local services. You can also record informal complaints or compliments on the web pages for the particular provider that you received treatment from. For the Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, complaints, compliments and problems to be resolved should be addressed to the PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service) at the Hospital: see the Royal Berks PALS web pages. Complaints and compliments can also be logged with Patient Opinion whose services are retained by the Royal Berkshire Hospital on their page for the Royal Berkshire Hospital or with NHS Choices on their page for the Royal Berkshire Hospital. For Prospect Park Hospital and the community hospital at Newbury complaints and compliments should go to 0118 960 5027 or BHT@berkshire.nhs.uk and reviews can be posted at the NHS Choices site. For District Nurses,surses, Physiotherapists, Podiatrists apecialist Community Nurses and Community Matrons, Physiotherapists, Podiatrists and Occupational Therapists working for Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust you can contact their PALS office BHT@berkshire.nhs.uk or phone them at 0118 960 5027. If these actions do not satisfy, then contact the South Reading CCG at South Reading CCG complaints and compliments for complaints and compliments about any NHS-funded services if you are registered with a GP or live within the South Reading CCG area. Lastly, if still unsatisfied you can take your complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman.

Reading Stroke Support Group welcome new members from the Reading area. They offer a range of activities including speakers, social support, outings, meals and exercise. The group meets from 10.00 to 12.00 on the first and third Thursday of every month.

Berkshire Health Network is the main mechanism for the local NHS to communicate with public and patients about local public consultations, public meetings and announcements of major changes to the NHS. You can register with the Berkshire Health Network to receive notifications and log in to reply to consultations or amend your profile of interests and personal details.

There will be a chance for the public to sit in on the proceedings of the South Reading CCG Governing Body on 1st June 2016 when it meets at 9.30am - 12.30am at the Museum of English Rural Life on Craven Road. Agenda and papers are found on the website of the South Reading CCG. The proceedings cover the reports of the Chair and Chief Officer, which will contain an update on the major reorganisation under way at present under the title "Sustainability and Transformation Planning". Also the reports on quality, public engagement, performance and finance. Attendance should be noted by email to the Berkshire West Public Involvement Team or by telephone to 0118 982 2709.

South Reading Patient Voice meets again on Wednesday, 25th May at 6pm at Reading Community Learning Centre, 94, London Street, RG1 4SJ. Three short talks by members of the group will provide insights into widely different areas of the health economy. Douglas Findlay will talk about the new Sustainability and Transformation Plan areas, Shaheen Kausar will talk about Health, Language and the work of the Reading Community Learning Centre, and Philip Lowry will talk about his experiences in early work with human growth hormone, and how it looked in retrospect. As usual we will review news from Patient Participation Groups around the CCG area and hear news from the CCG and Healthwatch Reading.

The state of Reading's health and wellbeing will be presented by Kim Wilkins of Reading Borough Council's Public Health team along with a look at how the state of our health is assessed and how it is used by our CCG in planning developments in health care. Click here to get started with JSNA = Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for Reading. We will also be receiving news from Patient Participation Groups, from Healthwatch and from our CCG as well as national NHS news of interest to us. CCG area.

Dr Gerard D'Cruz will be talking about the planned GP Chambers in Craven Road at our next meeting on Wednesday, 30th March at 6pm, at 94, London Street, RG1 4SJ. We will also discuss news about local health and social care, items from Healthwatch Reading, from South Reading CCG and from patient participation groups at surgeries in the South Reading CCG area.

South Reading Patient Voice meets again on Wednesday, 25th May at 6pm at Reading Community Learning Centre, 94, London Street, RG1 4SJ. Three short talks by members of the group will provide insights into widely different areas of the health economy. Douglas Findlay will talk about the new Sustainability and Transformation Plan areas, Shaheen Kausar will talk about Health, Language and the work of the Reading Community Learning Centre, and Philip Lowry will talk about his experiences in early work with human growth hormone, and how it looked in retrospect. As usual we will review news from Patient Participation Groups around the CCG area and hear news from the CCG and Healthwatch Reading.

 South Reading Patient Voice has written to the leader of the new COBWeB area (Commissioning for Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Western Berkshire) asking for patients and public to be involved in the five year planning which is due to be presented in June 2016 and finalised in July 2016. The chief executive of Oxfordshire, David Smith, has been appointed by NHS England to lead five-year planning for sustainability (sticking to budgets) and transformation (changing so as to be able to meet or exceed targets and still stick to budgets) over the COBWeB area comprising Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Western Berkshire (West Berks, Reading and Wokingham Unitary Authorities and the CCGs that correspond to them). The planning is intended to be carried out by the combined CCGs of the COBWeB area. According to the NHS Constitution, the planning should involve the public, either directly or through their representatives; however, so far nothing has been heard of consultation or involvement. We hope that the energetic collaboration between CCGs, NHS providers and Unitary Authorities in Western Berkshire will continue to form the main part of this five-year progress as they move towards jointly creating an Accountable Care System for Western Berkshire, however, crude cost cutting or wider reorganisation which disrupts the progress of Western Berkshire cannot be ruled out. These matters were discussed a couple of times at South Reading Patient Voice meetings in March and April. Our letter to David Smith is available below.