10/05/2014 BBC Wales Today

Good Evening. The Welsh Government says it will consider draft

guidance, which says patient safety could be at risk, if nurses have to

care for more than eight people at one time. The National Institute for

Health and Care Excellence, NICE, says hospitals should be wary about

exceeding that workload. Rebecca John reports.

The number of nurses on our wards varies between health boards and

depends on the type of ward and the time of day. NICE was asked to look

at safe staffing levels after the public inquiry into the Stafford

Hospital scandal. Its draft guidance, for hospitals in England,

says patients could be at risk of harm if a nurse has to care for more

than eight people at a time on a day shift. The Welsh Government says it

will look at the guidance. The Royal College of Nursing in Wales believes

legal minimum staffing levels should be introduced. If health boards

delivered on the Chief Nursing Officer's letter last year there

should be seven patients to one registered nurse on most wards in

Wales during the daytime and eleven patients to one nurse at night time.

There are simply not the resources within Wales to deliver, either

financially or that number of nurses currently, and that causes us

concern. The Welsh Government says it is firmly committed to ensuring

safe and high quality care for patients in Wales. It says it has

invested an extra ?10 million over the past year to employ more nurses.

Health economists say the NICE guidance does carry weight. One has

to treat these recommendations seriously and we have to put them in

the right context if we want to make sure that we get a good,

high-quality health service in Wales. This forms part of that

particular plan going forward. The NICE guidance will now be consulted

on before the final recommendations are made in the summer.

Police are investigating a fire in a flat near Pontypridd, which has left

a man in a critical condition in hospital. He was rescued by fire

fighters from the property in Ynysybwl last night. A woman was

also rescued but her injuries were not serious.

Fewer people are taking the drug Mephedrone, known as Meow Meow,

because of its damaging side effects. That is according to a

Swansea-based drugs charity, which says it has seen a reduction in the

past 12 months. Potential side effects can include fits, memory

loss, and heart problems. Last year, a report showed use of the drug had

soared in south Wales. More than 100 Victorian,

hand-illustrated, wall charts of plants, which were found by chance

in the cellars of Aberystwyth University, are about to go on

display. Porters discovered the drawings while clearing up a small

flood. Academics say some of the posters date back to 1850 and would

have been used to teach biology and botany in the University's early

years. These are like PowerPoint slides. They did not have the

ability to take colour slides and they did not even have old-fashioned

projectors to project onto the walls. So they had to rely on

skilled craftsmen to produce top quality art and then print them off

and distribute them around the world.

Strong winds have been causing problems in parts of the country. A

shop sign fell in Penarth, leaving one person with minor injuries. In

Swansea, a tree fell on a car on Brynmill Lane - although no one was

injured. Emergency services say they are receiving numerous calls about

fallen trees in south Wales. Well, let us see what is in store.

With the full forecast, here is Owain Wyn Evans.

Hello there. It is a bit of a mishmash as far as the weather is

concerned tonight. The Met Office have issued a yellow weather

warning, this is a "be aware" warning, for strong winds. These

mainly affecting the south Wales coast, we could see gusts in excess

of 50 or 60 miles per hour. Overnight lows tonight, 7-9 Celsius.

Heavy rain making its way across to the east overnight and tomorrow

morning we could see up to 30 millimetres of rain. Then showers

bunching together into longer periods of rain. But we could see

some brightness tomorrow. Our top temperatures, 13 Celsius. The

pressure chart shows this low-pressure influencing our

weather, so quite wet and windy over the next few days. But if you look

here, there is an area of high pressure that is creeping towards us

here in Wales. By the middle of next week it is an improving picture.

Before then, blustery conditions and heavy downpours.

Oh dear, stay indoors this evening I think! That was Wales Today. I will

be back with our next update tomorrow at 6:50PM. Hope you can

join me then. But for now, enjoy your evening and from everyone here,

goodbye. Good evening. We have seen plenty of

showers scattered across