Swansea actress Helen Griffin, whose character was recently killed off by the evil Cybermen in an episode of Doctor Who, has got a new role as a foster carer. And today at Swansea’s St Helen’s Primary School she will launch a campaign aimed at raising awareness of the need for more foster parents.

Warning signs were missed before a Swansea baby died of brain damage with 50 injuries on his body, says a review carried out by the Local Safeguarding Children Board into the involvement of all local services leading up to his murder.

A woman from Denbighshire who is dying from cancer will trial a drug that was previously unavailable in Wales, her daughters have said. Pamela Northcott, 58, from Dyserth in Denbighsire has terminal kidney cancer.

A third of stroke patients are still not treated in a specialist unit despite improvements in access, a national audit has shown. And fewer than half of patients receive brain imaging within 24 hours, a figure experts said was “unacceptably low”.

A Welsh woman with rheumatoid arthritis is backing a campaign to help fellow sufferers get back to work after a survey found that a third of them lose their jobs because of the disease.

Just because you hear voices does not mean you have mental health problems, according to academics embarking on a study at a Welsh university. Psychologists at Bangor University are planning to delve into the psyches of people who hear voices, but are not mentally ill.

An 81-year-old woman once described by a judge as “the original neighbour from hell” has had her prison sentence reduced by two months. Dorothy Evans, from Abergavenny, Monmouthshire was jailed for six months for harassment and breaching her Asbo.

Ninety staff at four care homes for the elderly in Torfaen are facing pay cuts of up to 50% in August. The organisation that took over the homes in 2002 says it can no longer maintain pay and conditions from when the local council employed them.

{mosimage}The union Unison has said dedicated staff are being treated badly.

When Hafod Care Association took over the homes from Torfaen Council, it promised to keep the status quo for existing staff for five years.

However, from 1 August, the association intends to cut workers’ hourly rates and stop paying extra for weekends and night work. It also plans other changes to terms and conditions for care assistants.

The homes affected are Ty Gwyn in Cwmbran, the Arthur Jenkins Care Home in Blaenavon, Cwmbran House in Pontnewydd and Plas y Garn in Pontypool.

One member of staff, who did not want to be identified for fear of losing their job, said: “After all the years that I have actually given loyal service, I really feel as if our lives and what’s going to become of our lives appear to be of no consequence at all to anybody.

“Overnight, by the stroke of a pen, they are going to take at least 30-50%, and expect us to actually live on that – it’s impossible.”

A pilot on trial for rape walked free today after the case against him collapsed over concerns about the police inquiry. Fadi Sbano, 38, was accused of conning a woman into regular sex by convincing her she was undergoing an elaborate treatment for herpes.

Nearly a fifth of nursery places in Wales are vacant as parents juggle their working hours to look after their children themselves. Thousands of positions for pre-school childcare remain unused as women take advantage of an increasing willingness among employers to offer family-friendly flexible working hours.