Two new family centres, aimed at giving children the best start in life and parents a second chance at education, are being created at a cost of £6m. The sites have not been agreed but one will serve the communities of Butetown and Grangetown and the other will cater for Adamsdown, Splott and Tremorfa in Cardiff.

A new respite centre was due to open its doors this weekend. The Jane Hodge Respite Care & Holiday Centre in Cowbridge is the only dedicated respite centre in Wales and caters for people with disabilities.

The future of a popular Swansea hospital has now been pushed back until after next month’s Assembly elections, it has emerged.Swansea health chiefs will take part in the final round of key talks on Fairwood Hospital and ward one at Hill House Hospital after people go to the polls on May 3.

Hundreds of people are still waiting more than four hours to be dealt with at Gwent’s main accident and emergency departments, despite an improvement in performance during March.

Labour has been forced to clarify its plans for the NHS when the Health Minister was accused by the opposition of casting doubt over the future of hospital trusts. Brian Gibbons told a hustings that trusts had reached the end of their lives, opposition parties said.

Hospitals in the Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan have been put on the alert to watch out for patients or staff affected by a stomach virus.

Photographs of three missing paedophiles being hunted by police were posted on a “most wanted” website yesterday. The site, launched by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) last November, has already led to the arrest of five missing offenders.

Six men are being quizzed by police over claims a woman was raped in a Swansea house.The 28-year-old claimed the serious sexual assault happened at the property in Port Tennant Road, Port Tennant, on Sunday evening.

Admission and discharge of patients are being restricted on five wards at the Royal Gwent Hospital due to an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting.

The latest chief executive of the beleaguered Welsh Ambulance Service has been praised for putting the service on the road to recovery. Ambulance Today described Alan Murray’s achievements at the ailing service as “remarkable” – he has been in post for just eight months.