Welsh Conservatives today questioned the Welsh Government’s commitment to meeting ambulance response time targets as figures published today showed the category A target has been missed for the 15th consecutive month.
Yesterday, during First Minister’s Questions the First Minister questioned the ‘clinical evidence’ for the eight minute target in responding to immediately life-threatening calls.
61.8% of ambulances responding to category A immediately life-threatening calls arrived within eight minutes. Carwyn Jones’ government’s target is 65%. The target in England is 75%.
Darren Millar AM, Shadow Minister for Health, said, “For the 15th month running, Carwyn Jones’ Labour Government has missed its ambulance response time targets.
“After more than a year of missing critical NHS performance targets, which can mean the difference between life or death for patients, the First Minister is now trying to rubbish those targets for political reasons.
“The First Minister seems to be questioning the clinical evidence for a heart attack victim or someone suffering severe blood loss to receive emergency medical care within eight minutes.
“The 8 minute target response is widely used across the UK, but is being routinely missed in Wales because of Labour’s decision to cut the Welsh NHS budget by over £800million in real terms over five years.
“Constrained capacity, full A&E units and bed shortages are putting intolerable pressure on frontline staff and are putting patients at risk.
“If this was a gaffe rather than a deliberate attempt to trivialise a key NHS performance indicator showing his own failure, then the First Minister should come clean.
“Welsh Labour Ministers must reverse their record-breaking cuts so hardworking NHS staff can provide the highest standards of care that patients deserve.”
