Welsh Ambulance Statistics show Powys bottom- Bates.

11.07.42am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 5th Jun 2008

Commenting after the release of Ambulance Target statistics for April, Welsh Lib Dem Mick Bates AM has warned that the service is still struggling to stay on target.

The figures show that the all Wales target of 65% of emergency responses arriving on the scene within 8 minutes has only been achieved by the narrowest of margins. The same targets in England are considerably higher.

Mick said: "Over half of Wales LHB areas are falling in below the all Wales target and it is only the good response times in North Wales that has meant the all Wales target has been met. South, Central and West Wales have all fallen below the target. Powys sits bottom of the table with just 47.8% of ambulances arriving within 8 minutes. I am aware of far too many examples locally where the Trust has failed to sanction cover for shifts which has resulted in ambulances been unmanned in Montgomeryshire. This leaves people across huge geographic areas at risk and will compromise response times"

"I appreciate that figures have improved in some areas from last month, but it is not happening quickly enough. The most worrying aspect remains the huge variation across Wales, from 77% in Denbighshire, to as low as 47.8% in Powys. These figures cannot be treated as welcome when they rely on a small number of relative successes in North Wales to drag the average above the target."