Health Service Journal reported on 19th April 2023 that the chair of the BOB (Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West) Integrated Care System, Javid Khan, formerly CEO of the charity Barnado's, had been placed on extended leave, amid broad concern about his working methods from ICS and other NHS staff. Trust chiefs from the area had planned to complain to NHS England about the lack of engagement by Mr Khan; Six senior executive posts and the CEO position are occupied by interim appointments as staff have left over the past year. BOB ICB staff had the lowest proportion of staff of any ICB who would recommend it as a place to work in the 2022 NHS survey, Health Service Journal reported. While we have had no particular problems with Mr Khan's chairing of meetings, we have observed very slow progress and some unsatisfactory proposals on the division of responsibilities between the ICS central staff and the 3 constituent places. We were also very disappointed that the patient engagement strategy has been so slow in development and there is so little initiative in that area. Vice Chair Sim Scavazza will be standing in as chair for the time being, it is reported.

South Reading Patient Voice meets at 6pm on Wednesday 19th April online via Microsoft Teams and in person in Committee Room 1 at the Reading Civic Offices at Bridge Street. Our speaker will be Mark Hinchcliffe, Strategic Head of Quality Improvement for Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, the mental health and community care NHS trust for Berkshire. We will discuss local news from provider trusts, primary care patient participation groups and local initiatives. We will also consider a proposal for rearranging the typical schedule of meetings. To join the meeting please click here .

South Reading Patient Voice meets at 6pm on Wednesday 19th April online via Microsoft Teams and in person in Committee Room 1 at the Reading Civic Offices at Bridge Street. Our speaker will be Mark Hinchcliffe, Strategic Head of Quality Improvement for Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, the mental health and community care NHS trust for Berkshire. We will discuss local news from provider trusts, primary care patient participation groups and local initiatives. We will also consider a proposal for rearranging the typical schedule of meetings. To join the meeting please click here .

BOB Area Spring Covid-19 Vaccination Campaign 2023
The local NHS is offering a further vaccination to those most at risk of COVID-19 across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West (BOB) from 17 April 2023. People who are eligible for a spring booster vaccination include: 

• people aged 75 and over (by 30 June 2023)
• those aged 5 and over with a weakened immune system
• residents of care homes for older adults

Care home vaccinations have started (3 April) buteligible people can book their spring vaccine from Wednesday 5 April, with appointments starting on Monday 17 April and finishing on Friday 30 June 2023. (the last date people can book an appointment is 29 June).. GP practices, pharmacies and local hospitals across BOB will be delivering the spring vaccination campaign. Some walk-in centres will also take part and these will be publicised when available. The spring vaccine will be offered to eligible people aroundsix months after their previous dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Bookings can be made by using the NHS App or at nhs.uk/CovidVaccination or all 119 for free. The NHS will also write to all those who are eligible to remind them they can get the spring vaccine. In addition, the current evergreen offer of providing first and second COVID-19 vaccinations is still available for everyone aged 5 (on or before 31 August 2022) and above across BOB but this will end at the same time as the spring vaccinations, on 30 June 2023. People can book a first and second jab at a GP practice or pharmacy across BOB at nhs.uk/CovidVaccination .

 The three unitary local authorities of Berkshire West, Reading, Wokngham and West Berkshire have adopted a common strategy for Health and Wellbeing 2021-2030 but each willl implement it in their own way.. To read the common strategy please click here. To read Reading's Health and Wellbeing Implementation Plan for 2022-2025 please click here.

The Reading Health and Wellbeing Board meets at 2pm on Fri 17th March 2023 in the Council Chamber and online via Teams. Please click here to join the meeting.

The BOB (Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West) Integrated Care Board will meet in public, online and at Cherwell District Council Chamber, Bodicote House, White Post Road, Banbury OX15 4AA from 10.00 - 13.00 on Tuesday, 21st March 2023. The board is responsible for commissioning most NHS services within its area and for integrating them with the work of local authorities and voluntary and charitable bodies.

South Reading Patient Voice meets at 6pm on Wednesday 15th March 2023 in Room 4A, Reading Civic Offices, Bridge Street and online via Teams to hear a talk on "Implementing the Berkshire West Health and Wellbeing Strategy" by Reading's Partnerships Manager in Public Health, Dayna White and Amanda Nyeke, Reading's Manager of Wellbeing and Public Health. To join the meeting online please click here. If you intend to come in person please let us know by emailing info@srpv.org.uk as the numbers allowed in the room are limited. Berkshire West has been working on a common Health and Wellbeing strategy between the three boroughs for some time. The strategy was launched late last year (see below). Reading has planned activities to implement the strategy and chosen outcome measures to monitor its success. The implementation is reported upon at Reading's Health and Wellbeing Board meetings.

The BOB Integrated Care Partnership meets in public on Wednesday 1st March at 2pm to 4pm online and at Oxfordshire County Council offices. Please find all details here. Please find the papers for the meeting below. They include the revised strategy document for the BOB Integrated Care System, which is to be approved (or otherwise) at this meeting.

The number of district nurses has declined alarmingly over the last twenty years. District nurses require a year's additional training after nurse qualification. According to the Royal College of Nursing and the Queens Nursing Institute in 2003, there were 12,620 district nurses in England. By 2013, the number had dropped to 6,656. In 2019, it was down to just 4,000 - a reduction of two thirds in 16 years. That left only one district nurse for every 14,000 people, despite the national policy direction of providing more treatment in peoples homes. The number has since increased only marginally, to the equivalent of 4,409 full-time posts in the latest figures from March 2022. Overseas recruitment in the sector is limited as its not a service that is common in many other countries and the sector can be less visible to newly qualified graduate nurses. This is despite their importance to innovations such as Virtual Wards and Urgent Community Response Teams. The number of mental health nurses has also declined. This means that the ratio of qualified to unqualified staff on mental health wards has declined. Between 2010 and 2019 due to cuts in funding the number of mental health nurses plummeted from 7,053 to 4,031.This, despite the rhetoric of parity of esteem between mental and physical health. In 2012 the number of training places for nurses was cut across the country. In London there was a reduction from 2,000 places a year to 1,580. A spokesperson for NHS London said, "We intend to concentrate on quality not quantity." The fact that training 2,000 nurses a year was barely enough to keep pace with leavers, mainly those retiring, seemed lost on those who should have known better. The Nursing Times reported in February that applicants for nurse training have dropped alarmingly: -18% in England, -17% in Northern Ireland, -22% in Wales and -24% in Scotland. All this at a time of record numbers of vacancies and rising workload.