The NHS England board meeting on 3 May 2013 endorsed proposals for an external review of the model used to roll out the NHS 111 service. The 111 service replaces both NHS Direct and the separate specific telephone numbers needed to call out-of-hours GP services. Official advice is that "you should use the NHS 111 service if you urgently need medical help but it's not a life-threatening situation." This, of course, begs the question of the caller's ability to decide reliably when an urgent situation is life threatening. The decision to review follows reports of at least 22 serious untoward incidents (SUIs), including 2 deaths, since the soft launch of 111. The press release from NHS England following their board meeting did not mention these SUIs nor the deaths, but sought to reassure patients that "a good 111 service is now operating in most of the country." The Berkshire version of NHS 111 is due to go live later in May. It will be run by the South Central Ambulance Service.

After the debate and vote in the House of Lords on 24th April 2013 and the ending of the session of Parliament the new NHS Procurement Regulations have passed into law. The regulations govern how public authorities like Clinical Commissioning Groups may lawfully arrange for services to be provided. The regulations have been highly contentious, with the Government asserting that they do not change the existing position, allows bundling of services, and puts the interests of patients first, while opponents including the BMA and several medical charities have claimed that they open the door to widespread privatisation by the back door, and, at the least spread confusion and invite companies to challenge CCG decisions in the courts. The latest set of regulations, now passed, gives the NHS competition regulator, Monitor, the power to annul contracts but not to force CCGs to put services out to tender. Monitor is to finally simplify (or complicate) the situation by putting out a set of case studies intended to guide CCGs in their commissioning work.

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The Board of the South Reading CCG meets in public for the first time on Wednesday 19th June at 12:30pm at the Museum of English Rural Life, Redlands Road, Reading RG1 1EX You, as a member of the public will be welcome to attend the meeting. You will hear summaries of useful reports on commissioned health care in the South Reading CCG area, including the Patient Experience and Patient Safety reports, the financial report, safeguarding report, Commissioning Outcomes report and other matters. There will be an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions towards the end of the meeting. 
  
If you intend to be there as a member of the public please notify the support team, either by email to ppiteam.berkshire@nhs.net or by telephoning 0118 982 2709

From the 15th May the way to access out-of-hours GP service in South Reading CCG area will be to phone 111 - the new NHS non-emergency number. This is a nationally designed service which will cover all non-emergency calls. 999 continues for emergency calls. The new 111 number is intended to take over completely from NHS Direct in South Reading by mid-June. Other parts of Berkshire West are on the same timetable. The new 111 service is being delivered in South Reading by the South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust who run the ambulances. The 111 service has had severe teething problems in some areas, but South Central Ambulance Trust have been running it successfully in Hampshire for many months, and our local service is being introduced cautiously and in a phased approach. Initially 111 will be just to replace phoning your GP surgery for out-of-hours service. By mid-June 111 should have replaced NHS Direct as well. The new service is intended to bring together all non-emergency assistance outside your GP surgery. It will not be staffed exclusively by clinically trained staff - initially your call will be answered by staff who have been extensively trained for the particular job of answering 111 calls. One reason for the changeover from NHS Direct will have been to save expenditure, but other reasons are to simplify access and unite the non-emergency services and provide a uniform, national service. Reading Post has recently reported that the much-delayed replacement service for NHS Direct and out-of-hours, the new non-emergency 111 service, will be phased in across Berkshire between mid-May and the end of June.Initially the service will just replace existing out-of-hours access, first in Berkshire East, then in Berkshire West.

Persistent venous leg ulcers are a troubling and often painful complaint. Treatment with light and honey, as offered by a small-scale local provider, is being offered under the NHS in the South Reading CCG area. Contact your GP surgery to find out if you could benefit from this therapy. This provision carries on a pilot started by the former West Berkshire Primary Care Trust in2012. At least some patients experienced positive results from that so the idea is to continue assessing this form of treatment. Honey has known anti-bacterial action - there is good reason behind this therapy. Treatment will at present be offered for ulcers that have persisted for more then 6 months and have received "conventional treatment".

We will be meeting between 6pm and 7:30pm on Wednesday, 24th May 2013 The main presentation will be on Integrated Care and the services delivered in the community to support it. The work of the CCG Programme Boards will also be outlined. There will be a short report on developments in the CCG, on the "dry-run" CCG board meeting in March, and time for discussion of matters raised at the meeting (or preferably before). There will be elections for vice-chair and outreach officer. 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 meeting between 6pm and 7:30pm on Wednesday, 27th March 2013. The main topic for discussion will be how the South Reading Patient Voice should be working with the patient and public community and the CCG.

Reading Community Learning Centre will be offering free courses on English language skills for healthcare users. The first course starts in May. Each course has six sessions of three hours. The courses are being given in Central Reading and at New Directions South in Whitley and at the Warehouse, Cumberland Road, in East Reading. The first session is at the Warehouse, Cumberland Road, on Friday, 3rd May 2013 from 9.30am to 12.30.pm Learners on the course will learn English language skills. English language skills will be introduced using materials relating to a variety of health topics specific to the health needs of the Nepali Community in Reading. A lot of the health information will be delivered by Health professionals. Some of the topics will include:

• how to stay healthy and eat better
• how to register with a GP
• diabetes and heart disease
• importance of regular health checks
• mental health and Alzheimer's disease
• who to contact for different health problems
• men's health and women's health
• how to spot signs & symptoms of Breast Cancer

For more information and bookings please contact your GP surgery or the telephone and email contacts below. Telephone: 0118 959 9009 Email: rclcaisha@btconnect.com

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust has advertised for a community diabetologist. This is one of many steps that will reshape the NHS towards better care in the community over the coming years.