Good news for West Berkshire

In amongst all the political turmoil last month, you might have been forgiven for not spotting two pieces of good news for West Berkshire.
The first was to do with ‘bed days’ which are those days that people spend in hospital even though they are ready to leave, mainly because there is nowhere, or no care, for them to go to. West Berkshire’s ‘Delayed Transfer of Care’ team has managed to reduce the number of these by 51% over the period from April 2017 to April 2018. This is good news for the recovery of the people involved and for their families, as well as for the NHS, and represents hard work and creative thinking by the Council’s team.

 

The other piece of news is that Newbury was singled out as a ‘winner’ on something called the Digital Influence index, with 64% of its local businesses active on social media as well as a rise in the number of independent shops in the town using social media to engage with customers. Evidence shows that there is a clear link between digital activity and physical footfall with shoppers increasingly starting their journey online so this proactive approach is really good news for our local high street.