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. To receive details of the meeting click here .

NHS England has published its 2023/24 priorities and operational planning guidance. On the key issues of employee retention it has little to offer: "Improve retention and staff attendance through a systematic focus on all elements of the NHS People Promise". And what does the NHS People Promise say? "We are recognised and appreciated whether a simple thank you for our day-to-day work, or formal recognition for our dedication, such as every decade of service to the NHS. We have a fair salary, competitive pension, and an attractive package of extended benefits, whatever our role. We have more choices. We can buy and sell unused holiday and arrange unpaid leave, if this is what wed prefer. We also enjoy enhanced maternity and shared parental leave We have access to employee assistance programmes for advice and support on issues like caring responsibilities and financial wellbeing." There are targets for reducing bed occupancy and A&E waiting times, but no discussion of the level of demand which is causing difficulties. The document s available below.

The BOB Integrated Care Board will meet in public from 10am to 1pm on Tuesday, 17th January 2023 at a venue still to be specified. The meeting can be observed online by registering in advance via the link on this page . Public questions can be submitted in advance to bobicb.enquiries@nhs.net . Click on this link to attend the meeting.

Reading again has an Urgent Care Centre, open from 8am to 8pm every day at the doctor's practice on the first floor of Broad Street Mall. The Urgent Care Centre will see people with urgent conditions. It asserts that it does not treat injuries - perhaps because it has no X-ray facilties. Anyone with and injury or a life-threatening condition should attend the Royal Berkshire Hospital's Accident and Emergency Department. The centre is commissioned to offer 100 appointments per day over an eighteen month pilot period. These appointment would be shared between people presenting themselves at the centre, and those referred by the Royal Berkshire Hospital, GPs, and parammedics . The centre is run by HCRG Group Ltd, a successor to Virgin Care and owned by Twenty20 Capital.

Reading Health and Wellbeing Board meets at 2pm on Friday 20th January 2023. You can attend the meeting online or in person. Please contact Nicky.Simpson@reading.gov.uk for remote attendance details or to submit questions. Public questions should be submitted a couple of weeks before to allow for answers to be prepared. Papers for the meeting will be available about 1 week beforehand.

The BOB integrated care system is run by its NHS Integrated Care Board but its strategy is set by a wider partnership - the BOB Integrated Care Partnership, bringing together the NHS, local authorities, voluntary and charitable organisations and others. The Integrated Care Partnership Board is now consulting on its strategic priorities for the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West health and social care system. There will be public meetings in January 2023 (to be specified) as part of the consultation. The consultation ends on 29th January. The survey can be completed online or via a paper copy. Please click here to access the strategy document, the survey form for downloading, or the online survey.

South Reading Patient Voice will hold its first regular meeting of 2023 at 6pm on Wednesday, 8th February. This should be online via Microsoft Teams and in person in Committee Room 1 at the Civic Offices, Bridge Street, Reading RG1 2LU. We will discuss local news and patient experience and also our work plans for 2023. The meeting will be in person and online via Microsoft Teams - please click here to join the meeting via Microsoft Teams. You do not need to be using Microsoft Windows to join the meeting online. You can use any computer or phone which supports the freely available Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Safari browsers. Finding committee room 1
Enter via main door - go forward, then right, left past the display cases, right through the doors and the committee room is on the right opposite doors to the Council Chamber. There is car parking nearby - the nearest car park is the Oracle Holybrook car park opposite and North of the Civic Offices on Bridge Street. Some Tips on Using Microsoft Teams 
Browsers Microsoft Edge or Chrome or Apple Safari are best for using Microsoft Teams. When you click on the above link you should be shown a screen which offers you either to continue in the browser or to use the Teams app. It is fine to continue in the browser if you do not have the app and that is the easiest thing to do. After making your choice you should be shown a screen with the view from your own camera, logos of a microphone and of a film camera, and a button labelled "Join Now". There may be an invitation for you to enter your name - if so please do so. You can switch your microphone or camera on or off by using the clickable buttons to the right of the microphone and camera logos. When you are happy with the setup please click on "Join Now". You will be held in a waiting room until admitted - so it is very useful for you to have entered your name at the previous stage. Once admitted you will see some of the participants and some round logos with initials of others. The controls appear when you move your cursor to the lower part of the screen in the middle (or for some it may be the upper part - please try it out). The controls have logos for the camera and microphone and you should see a hand which allows you to "electronically raise your hand" (and then to lower it again). There is a speech bubble - click on it to show a side panel or window which contains the chat - text messages exchanged by people attending the meeting online. There is a logo of several persons - click on it to display a side panel or window showing all attendees and whether they have raised their hands. Please use the microphone logo to mute your microphone most of the time, but unmute it when you are invited to speak.

All GPs now have direct access to cancer diagnostic scans, saving an intermediate referral to a hospital consultant. NHS England says, "Under the scheme, around 67,000 people who are usually diagnosed with cancer through non-urgent testing will now be eligible for fast-tracking and have a better chance of their disease being picked up at an earlier stage."

The BOB Interated Care Board meets in public from 10am to 1pm on Wed 15th November 2022. The meeting can be live streamed by clicking here .

The BOB Integrated Care Board will meet in public at 10am on Tuesday, 17th January 2023.