Employees who also care for a sick relative will be allowed to ask their bosses for flexible working hours. It is estimated that one in eight people working in Wales are also looking after a disabled or chronically sick friend or relative.

Today marks an amazing new start for the health of everyone living in Wales. At 6am this morning all public places in Wales became smoke-free and everyone in the country will also now benefit from free prescriptions.

NHS staff across Wales are being kitted out with stab-proof vests to protect them from violent patients. More than 7,500 incidents of physical and verbal abuse are reported in Welsh hospitals every year, averaging an attack on doctors and nurses every two hours.

A Jailed Llanelli TV producer has come under fire for allegedly giving prisoners cash to buy drugs for a television expose. Dafydd Evans, aged 42, was jailed for causing death by dangerous driving after he pulled into the path of 24-year-old motorcyclist Darren Beynon.

A man who delivers an innovative, highly successful project to improve patients’ heart health in Wales has been awarded with a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Excellence Award.

Deputy Health Minister and Minister for Older People, John Griffiths AM, have launched a report setting out the next phase of the 10 year Strategy for older people in Wales. The strategy was originally launched in 2003 and has been backed by a total of £13m from the Assembly Government.

Detectives in Chester are working to reduce the number of alcohol-related sex crimes that go unreported or unsolved. Operation Rebel is designed to limit problems, such as memory loss or a lack of evidence, which lead to cases being dropped.

Flintshire Council is inconsistent in its social services for children but the signs are that the authority is well placed to improve, according to a review undertaken by the Social Services Inspectorate for Wales.

Health chiefs in Swansea are expected to start the financial year saddled with around £6 million of debt.Finance bosses at Swansea Local Health Board predict it will be burdened with the deficit come April.

Urgent action is needed to tackle homelessness and the serious shortage of affordable homes in Wales, the Archbishop of Wales told the Welsh Assembly Government yesterday.