AMBULANCE services in the borough are to be scrutinized by the council after concerns were raised over rural response times.

The Great Western Ambulance NHS Trust will come under the microscope of a joint committee comprising Swindon Council, Bristol City Council and Gloucestershire County Council.

It comes after a damning report by the Healthcare Commission last year, which saw the ambulance service fail to meet nine different standards.

The joint committee has been created to work with the trust to understand the challenges it faces in making improvements to services.

Swindon Council's involvement was approved at a council meeting on Monday.

Coun Peter Mallinson, chairman of the Swindon Health Scrutiny Committee, said: "Although the Great Western Ambulance Service is meeting national targets in Swindon to respond to 75 per cent of life threatening calls within eight minutes, this has not always been the case in more rural areas served by the trust.

"Furthermore, the trust was rated as weak' for quality of services and weak' for use of resources in the most recent Healthcare Commission ratings.

"By working together the Health Scrutiny Committees from Bristol, Gloucestershire and Swindon will be able to oversee the work of the trust to make sure, on behalf of the population we serve, that the performance of Great Western Ambulance Service continues to improve."

Last July, the Great Western Ambulance Service failed to meet nine different standards including providing a safe and secure environment for patients, minimising their risk of contamination from medical devices and managing patients' records effectively.

And it prompted one Swindon paramedic to reveal that he and his colleagues did not have enough time to clean their vehicles. The trust has welcomed the creation of the new scrutiny committee and says it will only help to improve services.

Tim Lynch, chief executive of the Great Western Ambulance NHS Trust, said: "We have been working closely with our key partners in local government and we are pleased that they have agreed to form a joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

"They have an important role in holding healthcare providers to account by asking questions on behalf of local residents.

"This joint approach will allow us to discuss the key issues for the trust in the one arena, and to share with them the improvements we are making."

The first meeting of the joint committee will be held at the Civic Offices on Friday at 10.30am.

Anyone with an interest in the performance of the trust is welcome to attend.

The agenda is available by emailing epowell@swindon.gov.uk.