Kennet second to last on 999 target (From This Is Wiltshire)

Kennet second to last on 999 target

9:28am Thursday 4th February 2010 in

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Ambulance response times to life threatening calls in the former Kennet area of Wiltshire are the second worst in the whole of Wiltshire, Avon and Gloucestershire.

Figures produced by Great Western Ambulance Service show that since last April it achieved a 54.9 per cent response rate in sending an ambulance to life threatening calls within eight minutes in Kennet, which takes in Devizes, Marlborough and Pewsey. The national target is 75 per cent.

The worst performing area is the Cotswolds where the response is 48.4 per cent.

In contrast GWAS exceeds the national target in large towns and cities. Its best performance has been in Swindon where it achieved a response of 89.7 per cent.

The overperformance in urban areas means that GWAS is able to get close to or meet the 75 per cent target overall.

At a meeting of councils from across the three counties, which scrutinise the work of GWAS, Wiltshire councillor Mike Hewitt, who represents Bourne and Woodford Valley, said that the response figure for Wiltshire was boosted by the overperformance in Swindon.

David Whiting, chief executive of GWAS, said it was difficult to achieve the 75 per cent target in rural areas but he wanted to narrow the gap.

He said: “We have to get a good level of response across our patch but accepting that performance in cities will always be better than rural areas.”

A task group of councillors has been set up to look at the worst performing areas. Following the first meeting last week councillors agreed to publicise the first responder scheme, where members of the public are trained to use a defibrillator to treat people who have had cardiac arrests.