Health chiefs have been grilled over persistent “shocking” delays in ambulance response times in rural parts of Gloucestershire such as the Forest of Dean.

Civic chiefs say they have “lost patience” and ask what is really needed to close the gap between rural and urban response times in the county.

South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) bosses say the increased length of time ambulances spend at acute hospitals waiting to hand over patients is the biggest challenge they have faced over the last two years.

The trust lost 2,655 hours to handover delays across Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and Cheltenham General Hospital in December, severely reducing the remaining ambulance hours on the road to respond to patients.

A spike in flu cases saw a huge increase in pressure on the ambulance service over the Christmas and New Year period with the ambulance service responding to more than 2,300 incidents per week during that time.

Chairman Andrew Gravells (C, Abbey) told the health overview and scrutiny committee (HOSC) meeting on January 28 that it never ceased to amaze him to see ambulances outside the hospital.

He highlighted the “stark difference” figures from the Abbey division he represents in Gloucester.

The latest statistics show response times for category one incidents, these are for cases involving a life-threatening injury or illness, are around seven minutes while in the Cotswolds and Forest it is 19 and 18 minutes respectively.

“We don’t seem to be closing that at all,” he said.

“We seem to address this issue every time we have a HOSC meeting.”

NHS Gloucestershire integrated care board chief executive Mary Hutton said she did not recognise that the situation is “not improving at all”.

And she explained they are taking a “whole system” approach to manage flow of patients in the system

“We still have some work to do to maximise the handover from hospitals,” she said. “We recognise there are a lot of people involved in getting this improved.”

Councillor Paul Hodgkinson (LD, Bourton-on-the-Water and Northleach) praised the “amazing” work of paramedics and hospital staff and recognised they are under “immense” pressure.

But he said he had lost patience with health bosses due to the recurring ambulance delays.

“Northleach has the worst category one response time in the whole of Gloucestershire, 22 minutes,” he said. “It’s meant to be eight minutes.

“Here we are back again and it’s worse. Despite everything you’ve said over the years.

“I have to go back to my community and tell them Northleach is the worst in Gloucestershire. It’s three times the target.

“They are shocking. Everyone in my community sits there worrying about what would happen if I really needed an ambulance.

“I’ve lost patience with this. I’ve raised this so many times and it doesn’t get better. Never had a really honest conversation about what we need.

“I would really like you to tell us what you need. It feels like all your efforts and hard work. It never gets there for the rural areas.

“It’s brutal but that is my question. I would really like some honest answers.”

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Kevin McNamara told the meeting ambulance handover delays have improved.

But he said there had been a 319 per cent increase in hospital admissions due to flu.

“The average has gotten better but there are some high spikes of activity,” he said. “The flu season was significantly worse.

“We recognise, as a whole system, ambulance handover delays is one measure of how the system is working. We also have long waits within the hospital.

“Part of the work we are doing as a system is looking at alternatives to the emergency department.”

Ms Hutton said improving ambulance response times is not “a simple money equation”.

And Matt Thomas, executive medical director at SWASFT, echoed those comments.

He said ambulance delays are a symptom of a problem of getting flow through the whole system. Geography has an impact on how long it takes ambulances to get to the more remote parts of the county, he said.

And he explained the issue is really complicated and the whole system is looking at the demand and what can be done to reduce it with more care in the community.

“We are working with colleagues to do that,” he said. “Our ambulances are not placed at random.

“We put them in the best places we can. There is an ongoing modernisation of the ambulance service.