LIVES are being put at risk in Ceredigion because the Ambulance Service is not meeting its response time targets, says the county’s AM Elin Jones.

Speaking after the annual performance figures were release last week, Miss Jones said: “It’s no longer a surprise that the Ambulance Service is not meeting its targets. But what is concerning is that there is no sign of improvement.”

The latest statistics show that the target of 65% of calls being responded to within eight minutes has not been met in Ceredigion since July 2012.

The performance locally has got worse in the last three months, with 60.1% of calls met within the target time in May, 58.2% in June, and just 57% in July. Miss Jones, who is shadow health minister for Wales, said: “A few months ago the performance, whilst still below the standards expected, appeared to be at least improving. However, the latest statistics demonstrate that these improvements were merely blips and have not been sustained. The service shows no sign of being able to meet its targets.

“It’s a real wake-up call that the target in Ceredigion hasn’t been met for a year now. People’s lives are being put at risk. Getting to grips with this situation is long overdue.”

In Wales as a whole, targets were only met in four out of 22 counties in July.