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.

Healtwatch Reading is promoting a webinar on Self-Neglect to be given by Suzy Braye, Prof Emerita of Social Work at Sussex University. The webinar takes place on Wed 8th February 2023 from 10am to 11am. To register please click here .

The Berkshire West, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire (BOB) Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) board meets in public from 12.30pm to 2pm on Friday, 27th January 2023 (immediately after the Berkshire West online strategy consultation meeting for BOB ICP . The in-person meeting will be at: Oxfordshire County Council, Council Chambers, County Hall, New Road, Oxford OX1 1ND. The meeting papers are attached below.

 This extract from the Covid-19 recovery report on the Reading view of the Berkshire Public Health Observatory shows how life expectancy varies with deprivation.

The BOB (Bucks, Oxon and Berks West) Integrated Care System has its strategy set by its Integrated Care Partnership which includes NHS, local authorities and voluntary, social enterprise and charitable organisations. The draft strategy is currently under consultation There will be an online public meeting for Berkshire West about the strategy at 11am on Friday 27th January 2023.