The independent Berkshire charity Sport In Mind, which "Promotes Mental Well-Being Through Sport", is holding a charity walk on 7th October 2017. Start at Reading's Civic Offices on Bridge Street at 10.30am and walk 5.5km to the Cunning Man pub. Have lunch there and walk back or take the 2 or 2a bus back into Reading. Please register via info@sportinmind.org and make your charitable donation at www.virginmoneygiving.com/SportInMindCharityWalk2017.

The Reading Health and Wellbeing Board meets in the Civic Offices on Bridge Street at 2pm on Friday, 6th October 2017.

World Mental Health Day is on Tuesday, 12th October and we have events in Reading on that day and on Thursday 12th and Friday 13th. On Tuesday, 10th October, Berkshire Healthcare Psychological Medicine Service, which provides a mental health liaison service in the Royal Berkshire Hospital's A&E Department, will be present near the main entrance of the hospital to describe their work and discuss mental health services. Additionally, on Tuesday, 10th October, Reading's Compass Recovery College will be presented in Central Library and Oxford Road Library - just drop in on the day.

South Reading Patient Voice will be meeting at 6pm on Wednesday, 27th September at 94, London Street, Reading RG14SJ - Reading Community Learning Centre. We will hear a talk from David Cooper - until recently Lead Governor at the Royal Berkshire Hospital Trust. We will also discuss our response to the proposal to merge Berkshire West CCGs and create an Accountable Care System, news from local Patient Participation Groups and the local health economy.

The Government has backed out of selling the NHS's internal staff agency - NHS Professionals after much opposition and demands for an enquiry. NHS Professionals is the NHS's internal staff agency. As the NHS is currently in the middle of waging a campaign against the use of external agency staff (needed because we have neither trained enough staff nor kept up pay sufficiently to retain them) NHS Professionals has suddenly become much more active and much more important to the NHS. It is used for staff to earn more in extra hours or to work on supply.