Powys - Bottom of the league on Ambulance Response times

11.38.37am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 21st Feb 2008

Official Government figures released today show that Powys' Ambulance response times to immediately life threatening calls for December 2008 were the lowest in Wales. The percentage of emergency responses arriving at the scene of an incident within 8 minutes in Powys was 41.7% compared to the Wales average of 55.9% and the target of 60%

Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire Lembit Öpik said:

"I am very concerned by these statistics. Clearly as a rural area Powys is at a logistical disadvantage to smaller, urban and more manageable communities. However this is not an excuse for people's lives to be put at risk.

"The hardworking ambulance staff are fighting against a combination of poor road infrastructure, a dispersed and aging population and have inadequate resources to meet these tough demands.

"With things as they stand we have no hope of getting any where near to England's corresponding target of 75% for Category A calls. The Assembly Government must take urgent action to tackle these low figures in Powys by addressing issues of understaffing, poor infrastructure and a lack of resources."