Author: Rhys Gregory

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales will mark the official opening of the Ysbyty Calon y Ddraig – the Dragon’s Heart Hospital, the temporary hospital based at the Principality Stadium on Monday 20 April 2020. Ysbyty Calon Y Ddraig is the largest temporary hospital in Wales and the second largest in the UK. It has been funded by Welsh Government to support the communities of Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan and potentially across other Health Boards in Wales. The official opening of Ysbyty Calon y Ddraig – the Dragon’s Heart Hospital, set in the backdrop of the stands…

Detectives investigating the attempted murder of a 21 year-old Cardiff man have made a fourth arrest. In the early hours of yesterday morning (Sunday 19th April) officers attended an address in Llanishen and arrested a 25 year-old man from Fairwater on suspicion of attempted murder.  He has been taken to a South Wales Police station for questioning. Two other men previously arrested in connection with this investigation have been released from custody while enquiries continue. A 27-year-old who was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder has been bailed, while a 31-year-old man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder has…

Minister for Health and Social Services, Vaughan Gething, has announced a three-month package of additional support worth up to £6.3m for hospices in Wales Hospice services in Wales rely on charitable fundraising for around two thirds of their income and have experienced a short-fall in funding during the coronavirus outbreak. The recent restrictions imposed during the outbreak have led to a drastic drop in that income as fundraising events are cancelled, charity shops close and campaigns paused. At the same time, the crisis is making their services even more essential. The funding announced today will enable them to continue to…

As health services across the world battle the Coronavirus, NHS Wales is stepping up its defence against viruses of the technological kind thanks to a partnership with global cyber leader Thales. The new agreement with Thales will enable the NHS Wales Informatics Services [NWIS] team to protect vital systems from a surge in cyber-attacks by accessing Thales’s technical threat analysis service, a global centre of knowledge about the latest and emerging threats.  Thales will be providing the service to NHS Wales free of charge. Thales’s intelligence service makes available its intelligence, identification, computer virus spread monitoring, threat analysis and rapid…

Swansea University academic Norah Keating is among a group of eminent social scientists  who have been honoured by the Academy of Social Sciences The Academy has conferred the award of Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences on 51 UK social scientists including Professor Keating, Professor of Rural Ageing, at Swansea University’s Centre for Innovative Ageing (CIA). Professor Keating is a social gerontologist whose professional life has been devoted to enhancing quality of life of older adults. She has an international reputation for her work in families, liveable communities and care. All have been elected based on their outstanding contributions to…

Supporters of the world’s first first preserved railway in Mid Wales have contributed more than £30,000 in three weeks to an appeal for funds. The Covid19 pandemic has meant that Talyllyn Railway at Tywyn in Mid Wales is unable to run trains until further notice. The narrow gauge railway, which closed on March 20, has already missed the traditionally busy Easter period, and is set to miss the first Bank Holiday weekend in May at a minimum. A £75,000 appeal has been launched to cover fixed costs of £25,000 a month for three months. The early response from generous supporters…

A social care leader has urged Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething to publish the number of people dying in care homes after contracting Covid-19. According to Mario Kreft MBE, the chair of Care Forum Wales, the lack of information on fatalities had pushed care homes and domiciliary care companies to the back of the queue for resources, including protective equipment, testing and and importantly funding. Earlier this week Mr Gething said 75 homes in Wales had a confirmed Covid-19 case and 217 had suspected cases but crucially he did not reveal how many of them had passed away. The official…

The chairman of an organisation that represents more than 600 tourism and hospitality businesses across Mid Wales is warning of dire consequences for the industry if the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown continues into June. Rowland Rees-Evans, who leads MWT Cymru and is a director of the family-owned Penrhos holiday, golf and leisure park at Llanrhystyd, near Aberystwyth, says most tourism operators have planned to remain closed until the end of May. Should the lockdown continue later into the main tourist season, businesses would have missed Easter and the May Bank Holidays period and any cash received from the UK and Welsh…

A specialist design team is to help preserve Swansea’s 132-year-old Palace Theatre building for future generations. GWP Architecture will lead the Palace project as part of a highly experienced design team that includes structural, civil, mechanical and electrical engineers Hydrock and project managers and quantity surveyors TC Consult. They will work with dedicated officers of Swansea Council. GWP Architecture are already working on three live heritage design schemes in South Wales, including the creation of a distillery and visitor centre at Swansea’s Hafod Morfa Copperworks. Robert Francis-Davies, the council’s cabinet member for investment, regeneration and tourism, said: “We wanted a…

A temporary one-way system for pedestrians around Roath Park Lake is being introduced this weekend to help local residents follow social distancing guidelines when they go on their daily exercise. The pilot scheme, which started on Saturday April 18, is in response to concerns raised by local residents and will involve a clockwise one-way system around the path by the lake and will remain in place seven days a week until further notice. Signs will be placed in the park to show local residents and visitors how the new system will work and staff will be on hand this weekend…