GPs WILL continue to help assess emergency calls to a Gwent ambulance control centre following the extension of a trial scheme.

Promising results from the project, which aims to offer patients an alternative, where appropriate, to an emergency ambulance call-out, have prompted its extension into June.

Doctors are currently based at the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust's control centre at Mamhilad, and also at centres in Pontypridd and Carmarthen, with aim of helping ease pressure on busy hospitals and paramedics by clinically assessing calls.

Hospitals have struggled to cope with surges in emergency medical admissions, particularly during January and February.

The scheme has enabled paramedic crews who feel a patient does not need to go to hospital to seek the assurance of higher level clinical advice, while freeing hospitals and crews to deal with more serious and life-threatening emergencies.

Trust chief executive Alan Murray said extending the GP triage scheme will enable closer evaluation of its worth, but "initial results have been promising."

He said there is also progress toward improving response times across Wales, all areas achieving the 60 per cent target for reaching category A calls inside eight minutes throughout March and into April.

Another aim is to bring response times up to standard in all 22 Welsh council areas.

In Gwent, Monmouthshire represents the biggest challenge. For the three months to December 31 2006, the latest fully audited period, only 44.5 per cent of category A calls were reached inside eight minutes.