Thieves are preying on hospital patients in the Black Country and Staffordshire, with everything from wedding rings to cash having been reported stolen in a year.

It was a double New Year celebration for proud parents across the region as they welcomed in 2012 with the arrival of their own bundles of joy.

Councils are causing thousands of cases of bed blocking in the region’s hospitals, it emerged today. Social services departments are failing to quickly carry out assessments and get places at care homes ready for patients.

Dozens of mothers and fathers in the Black Country were given the very best present possible, as they welcomed their own Christmas Day bundles of joy.

More than 100 people had to wait more than a year for treatment at hospitals across the Midlands, despite the figure halving nationally new figures have revealed.

Students from The Earls High School in Halesowen have been collecting present bags in their ‘Give a Gift Bag’ appeal for the Children’s Ward at Russells Hall Hospital in readiness for distribution at Christmas.

A man suffered suspected spine injuries after falling on to a raised gantry at a Dudley steel works.

More than 100 patients in the Black Country and Staffordshire have been waiting longer than a year to be treated, and the Government is threatening to crack down on hospitals which fail to sort the problem out.

Thousands of patients are returning to West Midland A&E department within a week of seeing a doctor – causing hospitals to miss national targets.

The number of hospital operations cancelled at the last minute in Wolverhampton has soared by more than 30 per cent while it has fallen in other Black Country and county hospitals.