Figures published this morning show that the Welsh Labour Government’s ambulance response time target has only been met once in the past 19 months.
Wales has the lowest ambulance response time target in the UK for 65% of ambulances to respond to an immediately life-threatening call within eight minutes.
In January 2014, just 57.6% of ambulances arrived within eight minutes, while in Blaenau Gwent, response time figures were as low as 43%.
Darren Millar AM, Shadow Minister for Health and Social Services, said:
“These are disturbing figures showing ambulance response time targets have been missed yet again.
“Labour has the lowest ambulance response time target in the UK and even that is being consistently missed, having been achieved only once in the past 19 months.
“It is deeply worrying that ambulance response times have not been met during what has been a very mild, albeit wet, winter.
“Scenes of ambulances queued up outside A&E units, unable to transfer patients, is an increasingly regular sight at Welsh hospitals and it is time the Welsh Labour Government got a grip on the situation.
“Labour’s legacy of record-breaking cuts to the Welsh NHS budget has put immense pressure on frontline staff, while downgrades to A&E units will force ambulances to travel even further to transport seriously ill people to hospital.
“It is astonishing that Labour’s response to this crisis is to hold a consultation on changing the name of an ambulance to a Welsh Emergency Medical Service vehicle.
“What matters to patients is that the ambulance service will respond immediately to a life-threatening situation and Labour Ministers should accordingly prioritise patient care and stop meddling in semantics.”
