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.

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.

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.

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!