DESPITE failing to reach Government targets in recent months, Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust has improved its speed response times to life threatening incidents.

Figures from the ambulance trust – which serves Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and the Avon area – showed that in June this year, it achieved 74.9 per cent against a national standard of 75 per cent for attending Category A calls within eight minutes.

Broken down, the trust responded to 8,306 emergency calls in June, and a total of 6,218 of these were reached by emergency response teams within eight minutes.

However, figures released by the Department of Health this week show that in July, GWAS received 8,603 calls to Category A incidents and 6,572 – or 76.4 per cent – were responded to within eight minutes, matching the national average and beating the Government target of 75 per cent.

A spokesman for the trust said that ambulance performance measures were now changing and they were now measured on the overall service and care provided, as opposed to simply how quickly the ambulance team got there.

He said: “The way ambulance services are assessed has changed, with far more emphasis now on the treatment we provide and the overall level of service we deliver.

“These are based on a range of clinical and quality criteria that measure how we care for patients and, most importantly, the outcome for patients. In several of these criteria, GWAS is among the best – if not the best – in the country, thanks to the skills and dedication of staff to do the best for patients wherever and whenever they need us.”

He added: “Clearly speed of response is still an important measure for life-threatening 999 emergencies, which is why the response standards are included in the performance measures.

“This year, GWAS continues to perform above the national standard, which is one of the most demanding in the world.

“Since April, we have reached 76.4 per cent of Red (formerly Category A) calls within eight minutes, against the national standard of 75 per cent.”

Figures also show that in July, 30,014 calls were made to the switchboard and 368, or 1.2 per cent of these were abandoned before answering, the same figure as the previous month.

A total of 1,021 calls were closed with phone advice and 7,171 patients were treated and discharged on scene.