Gwent ambulance response times mixed (From South Wales Argus)

Gwent ambulance response times mixed

12:20pm Friday 28th September 2012 in News By Andy Rutherford - Health correspondent

EMERGENCY ambulance service performance in Gwent during August improved significantly in Newport and Blaenau Gwent compared to July, new figures reveal.

But performance was down in Monmouthshire, Torfaen and Caerphilly, with the latter two areas among seven in Wales where fewer than 60 per cent of category A call responses were made inside the target eight minutes.

In Newport, 69.5 per cent of category A emergency calls in August were reached inside eight minutes, up from 65 per cent in July and the third highest in Wales.

Blaenau Gwent also bounced back, up from 57.5 per cent to 64.6 per cent.

In Monmouthshire, performance was up to 61.4 per cent, but Caerphilly’s August performance fell four per cent to 59.5 and Torfaen one per cent to 56.5.

The 60 per cent threshold is important as this is the minimum target set by the Welsh government for performance against the eightminute response time standard.