AMBULANCE response times in the Forest continue to be among the worst in Gloucestershire, according to the latest figures.

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust faced questions last week from civic chiefs who want to see a “clear pathway” to improving the time it takes to get to those in need.

On average, it takes 13 minutes and 22 seconds for an ambulance to a category one call in the Cotswolds.

These are ambulance calls which are classified as life threatening and needing immediate intervention and/or resuscitation, and should take an average of seven minutes.

The Forest is narrowly second from bottom with 13 minutes and five seconds, while the average is 12 minutes 40 seconds in Stroud, nine minutes 25 seconds in Tewkesbury borough and seven minutes 34 seconds and seven minutes and seven seconds in Cheltenham and Gloucester respectively.

Councillor Paul Hodgkinson (LD, Bourton-on-the-Water, Northleach) said the issue is a cause of great concern for residents in his area.

He told the county's health overview and scrutiny committee on May 23 that the figures had slipped back a lot.

He said he was really concerned about the “stubbornly high numbers in the Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean”.

“For instance, category one, latest figure for the Cotswolds 13 minutes, 22 seconds.

“Still well above the target. Category two, 52 minutes, that has actually gone up again and category three, two hours and 36 minutes.

“These are really high and I’m really worried about this. Residents do raise it with me a lot. 

“They talk about it and are concerned if they fall ill, ask if an ambulance will turn up on time.

“These figures say they won’t turn up within the target time. How are we going to get these figures down?”

County commander Stephanie Bonser took on board the concerns and said the service has to continue to work on reducing its response times. 

She said they are increasing their numbers of clinicians and vehicles in some of the more rural areas and more detailed figures would be produced at the next meeting.

“There has been an improvement and we can see that. We are working hard, as we talked about the strategy, with our external stakeholders to ensure we continue to improve our handover delays which we talked about at the last HOSC meeting we were at.

“It has a significant impact on our ability to respond to our patients in a timely fashion. It’s important to note while some of those response times are where we’d want them to be, we are working hard with our remote triage.

“So not all of those patients, despite a poor response time, will travel to hospital. So you’re absolutely right, someone on the end of the phone giving someone at home advice and potentially directing them to alternate directions is equally important.

“We are working hard in our recruitment for clinicians. That will also give timely advice in the interim.

She said community first responders in those areas will also help reduce response times.