MORE than 28,500 rostered hours were lost by the Welsh ambulance service in Gwent in the 14 months to June this year, because there were not enough frontline staff to work them.

The Aneurin Bevan Health Board area, which covers Gwent, had the most lost ambulance service hours of Wales’ seven health boards.

But figures from the Welsh Ambulances Services NHS Trust, revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request by Plaid Cymru, show that a shortfall in frontline staff, paramedics and others who work from ambulance stations, is an issue across Wales.

An average of more than 7,000 hours a month is being lost across Wales because there are not enough frontline ambulance staff to work the rosters, with the average monthly difference between hours worked and hours rostered being 7,361 from April 2012 to June 2013.

It was also revealed that at the end of last July there were 84 vacancies of staff in Welsh ambulance stations.

The figures for Gwent are particularly worrying because areas within it such as Torfaen and Monmouthshire frequently record among the poorest monthly emergency response times.

In its reply to the FoI request, the trust said an “extensive” recruitment campaign was underway to fill frontline vacancies.