We will be meeting between 6pm and 7:30pm on Wednesday, 30th October at the University Health Centre, 9, Northcourt Avenue, Reading RG2 7HE. The central feature will be a debate regarding the continued aims of the Patient Voice within the context of an engagement strategy for NHS South Reading CCG, proposed by our Lay CCG Board Member, Christopher Mott.

We will be meeting between 6pm and 7:30pm on Wednesday, 30th October at the University Health Centre, 9, Northcourt Avenue, Reading RG2 7HE. There will be a discussion on the "plan on a page" for patient and public engagement for 2014/2015.

The South Reading NHS CCG Board met in public on Wednesday 18th September at the Museum of Rural Life on Redands Road. This is a chance to hear presentation of reports and monitoring of performance and of plans. At the end there is chance for members of the public to ask questions. Agenda and documents (many) are found here. It is only possible to recount certain points from a three and a half hour meeting. Lay board member for patient and pubic engagement, Christopher Mott, spoke to his paper. Engagement in the annual QIPP projects round had started. Public and patients felt distant from the work of the federation programme boards where engagement needed to be further developed. Work was proceeding on encouraging ptactice-based groups with Healthwatch. A "plan on a page" for engagement would be developed with patient input for 2014/15. Cathy Winfield reported that the Pioneer bid involving 4 CCGs, 3local authorities and 3 principal supplier trusts, a bid for Government (non-financial) support in integrating health and social care, had gone well with our consortium on a short list of 20 from which 10 would be chosen, We were the only shortlisted bidders in the Thames Valley region. Elizabeth Johnston reviewed the work of the CCG and reported steady progress against targets. Nurse Director Debbie Daly presented the Quality Scorecard for providers to date, This showed pretty clearly the pressure that RBH h ad been under in the cold spring from April to June, when incidents requiring investigation, pressure ulcers, C Diff cases and emergency admissions had been elevated. Proportion of stroke patients admitted to Stroke Unit within 4 hours was too low. Number of Caesarian sections too high, Ms Daly said that the non-elective admissions would henceforth appear in the performance report. Further, all providers would exclude "unavoidable" pressure ulcers from their figures. (These appear to be cases where the patient is uncooperative.) Janet Meek gave the performance report. There had been missed targets in tome to treatment, the 31 day cancer pathway and time to diagnostic test at local providers - in particular ar RBH one of the areas underperforming was opthalmology where there woud be changes to the patient pathway. Non-elective (emergency) admissions from South Reading CCG area were reducing on target despite the reported overall increases in non-elective admissions to Royal Berkshire Hospital overall. This is an important target for sustainability of our health care. Amendments to the CCG constitution were reviewed and approved, These seemed to be mostly related to name changes of various NHS bodies. Janet Meek also spoke to a paper on the reguations governing procurement, She suggested that in future, when commissioning new services, a checklist should be completed to demonstrate compliance. Debbie Daly then reported on the state of the risk register. Noteworthy items were the situation at a local nursing home where CQC inspection had revealed serious failings. C.Diff cases at RBH were still excessive. Further with the IT problems continuing at RBH poor data quality could conceal problems. In discussing performance the figures for outpatient attendances were queried as being incredible - was the data at fault? A small number of enhanced services at local practices were approved - of which the most significant covered training and preparation for anew approach to annual reviews for diabetics.

Health commissioning groups in the Reading area will be holding a town meeting on Tuesday, 12th November from 7pm to 9pm at the Kennet Room (Reading Civic Centre). To book a place please phone 0118 982 2709 or send an email specifying the Reading Call to Action meeting on 12th November to nhs.calltoaction@nhs.net This is a local initiative under NHS England's Call To Action. The Call To Action describes the future increased demands and costs for healthcare and poses the challenge of how the NHS will go forward. The Call To Action assumes little increase in funding in real terms and continuing adherence to the principles of a national health service free at the point of delivery.. It suggests a shortfall in funding of 30 billions by 2020/21 despite efficiency changes worth 20 billions in the first NHS challenge. The review of the NHS future covers avoidable deaths due to unhealthy lifestyles, the increase numbers of people living to great age, and the effects of health inequalities which are especially pronounced in the number of years of impaired health which people suffer.The contribution of technology is also considered.

South Reading Patient Voice was a motive force in arranging the Dementia and Elderly Care Conference held by South Reading NHS CCG earlier this year. The CCG have now published their account of changes and innovations brought about as a result of that conference. You can read it here.

The Friends and Family Test is to be extended to more NHS and Government services. It currently covers NHS funded acute services for inpatients (including independent sector organisations that provide acute NHS services) and patients discharged from A&E (type 1 & 2). The test is to be extended to maternity services this year. For GP practices, community health services and mental health services FFT, NHS England will expect all service providers to be collecting FFT from January 2015 at the latest,. For other areas of acute care - such as outpatient and day case services - and other areas of primary care - such as pharmacists, dentists and opticians - the latest start date will be April 2015. The question asked is How likely are you to recommend our ward/A&E department/maternity service/etc to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?. The answer can be "Extremely Likely", "Likely", "Neither Likely nor Unlikely", "Unlikely", "Extremely Unlikely" or "Don't Know". A score is then calculated monthly or quarterly for the service. The scores can be accessed on the NHS Choices web page for the trust or service or at this NHS England web site. The scoring prescribed works (see here ) as follows: The total number of respondents N_respond is given by: N_{extremely likely} + N_likely + N_neither/nor + N_unlikely + N_{extremely unlikely} The score is then given by: 100 * (N_{extremely likely} - N_neither/nor - N_unlikely - N_{extremely unlikely}) / N_respond This scoring has a number of peculiar properties.

1. It makes no difference whether you answer "neither/nor", "unlikely" or "extremely unlikely" - the resulting score will be the same.
2. If you answer "likely" it is more negative than if you answer "don't know" but answering "neither/nor" is even more negative.

Extraordinarily, two GP practices locally advertised only 0844 (5p or 7p a minute) telephone numbers until this Summer. These were London Street Surgery and the Russell Street and Coley Park practices. South Reading Patient Voice raised this with the GP Consortium (pre CCG) nearly two years ago. This summer those practices advertised 0118 numbers as alternatives. A reasonable way to treat hard-pressed patients. But why, oh why is the 0844 number still advertised at the top of their practice web page when the 0118 number is right at the bottom? What are they like? Doesn't treating patients fairly mean putting the 0118 number prominently on the web page? And informing NHS Choices web site of the 0118 number too?

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates about two thirds of all premature deaths are avoidable that is, they could potentially be avoided by public health action (preventable), better health care (amenable) or both and that preventable deaths make up about half of all avoidable deaths. The opportunity is great for Public Health England and the new public health system to contribute to a reduction in the underlying causes and risks of poor health smoking, excess alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and rising levels of obesity. Read what Public Health England's Knowledge Officer has to say here.

We will be meeting between 6pm and 7:30pm on Wednesday, 25th September at the University Health Centre, 9, Northcourt Avenue, Reading RG2 7HE. There will be a presentation from the Independent Patient Advocacy Service SEAP, an update from the CCG and the chair, a report on the QIPP (quality, innovation, productivity and prevention) programme for next year, a presentation from Healthwatch on Patient Participation and a discussion on ideas for Patient Engagement across the South Reading area. There will also be elections for Chair, Vice-Chair, Information Officer and Outreach Officer. Nominations to Karen.Grannum@nhs.net Anyone registered with a practice in the South Reading CCG area may attend. If you have not been before please contact Karen Grannum on email address karen.grannum@nhs.net or on telephone 07500 072 720 to give your contact details beforehand - we will be delighted to see you!

We will be meeting between 6pm and 7:30pm on Wednesday, 25th September at the University Health Centre, 9, Northcourt Avenue, Reading RG2 7HE. There will be a presentation from the Independent Patient Advocacy Service SEAP, an update from the CCG and the chair, a report on the QIPP (quality, innovation, productivity and prevention) programme for next year, a presentation from Healthwatch on Patient Participation and a discussion on ideas for Patient Engagement across the South Reading area. There will also be elections for Chair, Vice-Chair, Information Officer and Outreach Officer. Nominations to Karen.Grannum@nhs.net Anyone registered with a practice in the South Reading CCG area may attend. If you have not been before please contact Karen Grannum on email address karen.grannum@nhs.net or on telephone 07500 072 720 to give your contact details beforehand - we will be delighted to see you!