The first signs people are abusing the free prescriptions system can be revealed today. The Western Mail has learned that patients have visited their doctors to claim free tubes of Bonjela and pots of Vaseline on the NHS.

Social workers in a city where a baby boy was battered to death despite concerns being raised beforehand are making significant changes to the way they work. Staff are to become less desk-bound, and a policy of offering “office appointments” to parents who are the subject of concern will be scrapped.

A joint parliamentary committee has recommended that patients in private care homes should be protected by the Human Rights Act. The Committee on Human Rights issued a report recommending that the care standards regulations should be tightened to ensure private care homes abided by the same rules as those of public authorities.

Concern is mounting among AMs and MPs about proposals to send patients from north Wales to Swansea or Cardiff for brain operations.

Three thousand battling health workers in Swansea owed a fortune in back pay have told bosses: “We want it now.”Anger is mounting over continuing delays to money that they have earned but which is not being paid out.

Cardiff Council is celebrating the fact that it last used bed and breakfast as temporary accommodation for homeless households a year ago.

Improving mental health services for young people must be the priority for the new children’s commissioner for Wales, according to a leading children’s charity.

Mid and West Wales must not be left without grassroots secondary care services, a leading doctor has warned. Dr Tony Callard, chairman of the BMA’s Welsh Council, says politicians of all parties must unite to make the best decisions for the health of the nation.

Disabled children and their families in Wales will get better access to short breaks thanks to £1.54m of Welsh Assembly funding. The money will help local authorities develop more services. Short breaks ease the pressure on parents and families and enable the child to develop new skills, become more confident and make new friends.

No anti-social behaviour orders have been slapped on troublemakers in Cardiff this year. Yobs who have caused chaos in the city have been sent letters warning them about their behaviour – but none of them has been given curfews or banned from the streets.