We will be meeting between 6.15pm and 7:45pm on Wednesday, 25th March 2015 in the Reading Community Learning Centre, 94, London Street, RG1 4SJ (see Agenda for directions) . There will be a talk and discussion led by Katie Summers on the Hospital At Home programme which attempts to move more care into home and the community,. as well as a consultation on this year's Beat the Streets and news and discussion about health care locally.

The Governing Body of South Reading NHS CCG meets in public at 9.30am - 12:30pm on Wednesday 4th March 2015, at the Museum of Rural Life, Redlands Road, RG1 5EX The agenda includes quality and performance reports as well as reports by the chair and chief officer and summary reports from the clinical commissioning groups which plan services in detail. Particular items for discussion at this meeting will be the proposal to merge the Patient Engagement Groups of the two Reading CCGs, and the proposal to take in-house part of the commissioning capabilities initially split out the Commissioning Support Unit (CSU). Questions from the public should be emailed to karen.grannum@nhs.net before noon on Tuesday 3rd March 2015.

It is reported that the parent company of Reading's Riverview Care Home, Life Style Care(2011) Plc, has been placed in administration. The home will continue as usual and residents and carers should not be needlessly alarmed. The administrators aim is to realise the value of the assets and the purpose-built facliities could hardly be put to any other use. Riverview Care Home has had an eventful history. It was part of the Southern Cross empire, which was owned at one time by US private equity managers Blackstone. Blackstone and previous owners separated the properties from the care business in such a way that the care business paid rents increasing at 2.5% per annum while they realised massive returns by selling on the properties. In the end of course Southern Cross collapsed. Taken over by Life Style Care(2011) Plc, the care home, with 137 beds, received a disastrous report from the Care Quality Commission in 2013, failing on all counts. It was put back in order with considerable assistance from Reading Borough Council, who needed to maintain its facilities for use by Reading residents in need of high levels of care. Life Style Care(2011) Plc runs 23 care homes, mostly in the South of England, employs 2,200 staff and cares for 1,400 patients. Should any residents families have any concerns they can contact Life Style Care(2011) on 020 7303 8244 or email Lifestyle2011residents@deloitte.co.uk . Employees can call 020 73036623 or email Lifestyle2011employees@deloitte.co.uk.

Reading Borough Council in partnership with Solutions 4 Health offers its residents the FREE Eat 4 Health (E4H) weight management programme to support people to lose weight and more importantly keep it off, helping them to achieve their goals. The E4H courses are delivered in group settings and are open to anyone 16 years and above who has a Body mass index (BMI) over 25. E4H offers 10 FREE weekly sessions at a variety of local community venues. Each session lasts one and a half hours and contains an interactive nutrition workshop and exercise session. The E4H qualified instructor will help you to understand various food topics and will support you to become more physically active. All exercise sessions are tailored to your ability, so everyone can take part. To find out more please visit: www.eat-4-health.co.uk.

The popular, high-tech competition to encourage Reading residents to walk and cycle more is back in 2015 - from 29th April to 24th June. - that's 56 days to get more active. Reading Borough Council through its Public Health division and the NHS Commissioing Groups for South Reading (the bulk of the town south of the Thames) and North and West Reading are jointly funding the return of this popular public campaign. Read all about it here . Get your BeatTheStreet card from a borough library or from your GP surgery and start clocking up those points. There will be team prizes and a 4000 donation to the Royal Berks Cancer Charity if Reading achieves 300000 miles walked during the BeatTheStreet season.

Out Winter get-together for members and their guests has been moved to Tuesday, 10th February and will now take place at the RISC Cafe on London Street from 6.15pm. Food is available from Tutu's Ethiopian Table and there are drinks of the most varied kinds at the Cafe. A chance to meet in a quite different setting and get to know each other further. Bring your holiday snaps if you must!

We will be meeting between 6.15pm and 7:45pm on Wednesday, 25th February 2015 in the Reading Community Learning Centre, 94, London Street, RG1 4SJ (see Agenda for directions) . There will be a talk and discussion led by Karen Grannum, South Reading NHS CCG Manager on the planning for healthcare for South Reading for 2015/16. as well as further news and discussion about health care locally.

A free two-day 12-hour course on Mental Health First Aid is offered by Reading Community Learning Centre with support from Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, See the attached document for details.

The death rate for England and Wales has been about 3,700 above expected numbers since early December with 3,000 of the extra deaths among the over-75s according to the Office of National Statistics. Public Health England has suggested that flu could be the cause despite a successful flu vaccination campaign this winter. It will take more analysis to produce a definitive conclusion.

At a recent meeting of the Reading Health and Wellbeing Board we learned that expanded local treatment of lymphoedema was being considered. Lymphoedema is a painful and progressive condition in which the limbs (often the legs) become swollen after the body's lymphatic system is compromised. This condition is sometimes a consequence of treatment for cancer. Up to now only those patients whose conditions are associated with cancer have been offered treatment locally. Such treatment is offered at the Duchess of Kent Hospice in Liebenrood Road.. Some of the other sufferers have been referred further afield. After a sustained campaign led by Reading resident Sue Bicknell, it was announced at the Reading Health and Wellbeing Board on 30th January that the Berkshire West CCGs will look at the possibility of expanding treatment capacity locally so that treatment can be offered locally to non-cancer lymphoedema sufferers as well. We hope to report details in due course.