South Reading CCG is getting a 5.7% increase in its programme budgets for 2016/7 as CCG funding allocations are eased towards nationally calculated targets. Other CCGs which are above target may well be getting less than this. The total for 2016/7 is 135.3 million in recurrent allocations.

South Reading CCG's Governing Body will meet in public at 9.30am on Wednesday, 2nd March 2016, in the Museum of English Rural Life on Redlands Road, Reading. To arrange your attendance please register here. There will be an opportunity to ask questions, which must be provided by noon on 1st March, at the end of the meeting. Papers for the meeting should be available five working days before on the South Reading CCG website.

University Health Centre will merge with Whitley VIlla GP practice in April 2016. South Reading GP practice will then merge with them in September 2016. Read the practice newsletter account of this.

From 1 April 2016 South Reading CCG will take on delegated responsibility for commissioning GP services, which are currently co-commissioned with NHS England. It is believed that this will offer the local CCG more flexibility in arranging GP services. We in South Reading could benefit particularly from an active management of GP services as there is a risk, as pointed out in the Primary Care Strategy, that our smaller practices will not have the capacity or even the premises to offer the range of services needed to keep people safe in their homes and out of hospital whenever appropriate. Of course, there is an evident danger of conflict of interest as GPs commission GP services, but with transparency, clear specification and assessment of services, local goodwill and a commitment to patient and public engagement it should be possible to put this to one side.

Social Prescribing will be our main topic when Sarah Morland, of Reading Voluntary Action, tells us about this new development which is being piloted at several South Reading CCG area GP practices. The meeting will start at 6pm on 27th January 2016 at 94, London Street, RG1 4SJ. In addition to the talk on Social Prescribing we will be discussing news from Patient Participation Groups, from our CCG and from Reading Healthwatch. South Reading Patient Voice is open to anyone using a GP practice belonging to South Reading CCG while others my attend as guests by arrangement.

The Government's spending review on 25th November 2015 set out spending plans to 2020 and gave NHS England an initial additional 3.8 billion real increase next year out of a total of 8 billion real increase over the four years to 2020/21. Nurses training bursaries have been replaced by student loans and public health funding will be cut by another 3.8% in real terms to 2020/21 on top of a recent 7% cut. The chief economist of the King's Fund, in a response to the spending review, notes that some of the 8 billion real increase will come from other parts of the health budget as mentioned above, and most of next year's increase will be taken up by existing provider deficits and a change in the NHS pension arrangements which comes in next year and increases contributions from most staff and from NHS employers. In the meantime demand will increase remorselessly as our elderly population increases and the public health measures on which the NHS five year plan was predicated are not carried out by the Government. 22 billion will have to be saved, an unprecedented task. Social care will have an increase of around 10% over this period with councils additionally able to levy a 2% additional council tax to pay for social care. However it is thought that this will still leave a shortfall of several billion pounds for social care. The King's Fund's independent Barker Commission looked to public health and social care funding of 11% of GDP by 2020/21 but it looks as if the outturn will actually be below 8% putting us out of the league of our European peers.

The Governing Body of South Reading CCG meets on Wednesday 2nd December at 9.30 at the Museum of Rural Life, Redlands Road, RG1 5EX The matter to be discussed includes the plan for 4 Berkshire West CCGs, the acute, community/mental-health and ambulance foundation trusts and three local authorities to delegate all their powers to a new integration body to commission integrated healthcare across Berkshire West - for a population of roughly 500,000 people. At first sight the plan seems to offer very little in the way of transparency and public consultation - hopefully more detail will show something more compatible with the slogan "No decision about me without me". If wishing to attend, please notify organisers at southreadingccg@nhs.net by 12 noon on Tuesday, 1st December. Questions for the board must be submitted by 12 noon on Tuesday, 1st December.

South Reading Patient Voice has made a formal response to the Primary Care Strategy prepared by the four CCGs of Berkshire West. Please see the attached document for our full set of key messages - but here is a brief survey. Our area has quite a few small surgeries so facilities like extended opening hours and professional triage (having a health professional talk briefly with you to assess who should see you and how soon) will need either mergers or relocation to more modern premises. But we don't want access to be more difficult. The CCGs are planning to have a greater variety of health professionals working in surgeries and taking appointments, not just nurses but pharmacists and the new physicians associates. While Physicians Associates have a very detailed matrix of competences for taking appointments, making diagnoses and deciding treatment (and cannot write prescriptions without extended additional training), the situation does not seem so clear for Pharmacists so we ask for all professionals to work strictly within their recognised competences. The benefits of integrating health and social care will be best realised if GP surgeries play a full role, with records exchangeable between services, with patient consent.

The GP chair of South Reading CCG, Dr Ishak Nadeem, will be our speaker at the next South Reading Patient Voice meeting at 6pm on Wednesday, 25th November at 94, London Street, Reading RG1 4SJ. Please prepare and send in your questions about health and healthcare in South Reading. We will also be hearing your news from local Patient Participation Groups and GP practices and hope to hear more about planned changes in local healthcare. There will also be elections for Chair, Vice-chair and Information Officer - our 3 offices - and a chance to give views on how our group is doing.srpv/si

Public Health England has published its evidence based review of measures to reduce sugar consumption. Dr Tedstone, Chief Nutritionist for Public Health England said that children are consuming triple the recommended amount of sugar per day with adults consuming double. As Reading has high levels of dental decay and obesity in children measures recommended in this review could give particular benefits to our town and its children.