Welsh Conservatives have called for renewed efforts on ambulance response times following a dip in the number of Category A (immediately life-threatening) calls which received responses within eight minutes.
The all-Wales target of 65 per cent was missed slightly in December.
While Pembrokeshire, Neath Port Talbot, Vale of Glamorgan, Cardiff, Denbigshire, Wrexham, Swansea and Conwy all out-performed the target, 14 unitary authorities missed it.
The worst performing authority was Rhondda Cynon Taf, where 51.2 per cent of Category A calls received responses within eight minutes. With 1,144 calls in all, it means over 500 did not receive responses within the target time.
Shadow Minister for Health, Darren Millar AM, said:
“Any dip in ambulance service performance is a cause for concern and I urge the health minister to urgently address the issue and discuss any provisional figures for January with the ambulance service.
“While I understand the winter months can bring increased calls and difficult conditions, it is frustrating that seasonal change has again brought with it a downturn in response times.
“It is crucial that this drop does not continue and equally essential that mistakes are learned from.
“There are many parts of Wales that have missed this target significantly, leaving thousands of callers at risk throughout December. That is unacceptable and it these areas in particular where efforts to improve response times must be renewed.”
