A workshop primarily for users of mental health services and their carers, but also for voluntary organisations in this field will be held at Reading Town Hall between 10am and 3pm on Tuesday, 2nd December. Reading Borough, Reading's two Clinical Commissioning Groups and Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust are sponsoring this free event which will contribute to planning future Mental Health Services in Reading. Please see the workshop's website page for details of how to book your place.

Here are a some links to interesting videos and a very clear report about integrated care for frail, elderly patients. Professor David Oliver, consultant at Royal Berkshire Hospital comments on a patient's experiences where very common failings in care took place - see the video - produced under an initiative of Health Service Journal and Serco.

Circuit Lane surgery in Southcote lies outside the South Reading CCG area but developments there could be an indicator of future changes here. When the GP partners were unable to recruit a replacement for a partner who had announced their resignation, they found themselves unable to guarantee the safe continuation of the service and all resigned together. NHS England (Thames Valley) was left with the problem of how to push forward the GP service for around 11,000 patients from Southcote and areas further afield.

South Reading CCG has received winter pressures funding which can be used for GP services. It will be used to open a 7-evening a week childrens' urgent care centre at a location still to be determined over the winter months. The sum of 129,000 awarded to the South Reading NHS CCG will provide 20 20-miinute appointments between 5:30pm and 8pm every evening until April 2015. It is hoped that as well as aiding the children of South Reading this arrangement will lessen the pressure on the A&E department at the Royal Berks Hospital.