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| Ambulance targets missed for ninth month in a row | Ambulance targets missed for ninth month in a row |
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| Wales' ambulances missed a response time target for life-threatening calls for the ninth consecutive month, Welsh government figures have shown. | Wales' ambulances missed a response time target for life-threatening calls for the ninth consecutive month, Welsh government figures have shown. |
| Statistics from February show 60.8% of emergency responses arrived within eight minutes, missing the Welsh Ambulance Service target of 65%. | Statistics from February show 60.8% of emergency responses arrived within eight minutes, missing the Welsh Ambulance Service target of 65%. |
| Welsh Conservatives said the figures were disappointing, especially as the target was lower than in other areas of the UK. | Welsh Conservatives said the figures were disappointing, especially as the target was lower than in other areas of the UK. |
| The trust has been asked to comment. | The trust has been asked to comment. |
| Despite missing the target again, the response times have improved for the second month running climbing from 59.6% in January and 56.1% in December. | |
| The number of emergency calls at just over 32,500 was down 1.2% on figures for February 2012. | |
| More than 13,000 of those were Category A which are considered immediately life-threatening. | |
| Figures show only four council areas - Cardiff, Denbighshire, Wrexham and Conwy - hit the Wales-wide target. | |
| However the unitary authorities themselves have a response target of 60% of which 11 achieved this, up from nine in January. | |
| Darren Millar, Conservative spokesman on health said: "These figures are very disappointing and show ambulances failing to arrive at the scene of an emergency as quickly as patients expect. | |
| "For nine consecutive months, the ambulance response time target of 65% has been missed, despite it being consistently lower than the targets set in other parts of the UK. | |
| "Despite the best efforts of paramedics and other ambulance staff, the service is failing to deliver the efficient lifesaving care that patients rely on when they are involved in a sudden life-threatening incident. | |
| "The new health minister has a tough challenge in getting to grips with the persistently failing service left to him by his predecessor." | |
| He called for a swift conclusion to a current ambulance service review. |