Third of ambulances miss response target

Almost a third of ambulances in the West Midlands are taking longer than the target eight minutes to respond to "life-threatening" emergencies.

Ambulance chiefs today blamed the times on a lack of funding.

They added that they were unable to do the job properly without proper resources. An urgent independent review has been carried out to "address ongoing issues" over the service's finances, with health bosses set for further talks in an attempt to combat the problem.

New figures reveal that so far this financial year, 70 per cent of ambulances arrived within eight minutes of emergency calls to "category A" potentially fatal injuries across the West Midlands.

Ambulance service spokesman Murray MacGregor said a report on the funding crisis was due to be released within weeks.

"I think the report will be very clear that the amount of resources we have and the demands made on the service are not in unison," he said.

"For some time now, the ambulance service has been saying we don't have enough money to do the job properly. No-one is more disappointed that we are missing these targets than us."

The service is funded by contributions made as part of contracts with 17 "commissioner" primary care trusts including those in Walsall, Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Dudley.

Two years ago West Midlands Ambulance Service merged with its Staffordshire counterpart.

Robert Mackie, NHS Walsall's director of performance, highlighted the issue in his report to the borough's trust board.

"One of the areas of specific concern raised by the commissioner-led task group, which is responding to the outcomes of this review, has been the unlikely prospect of West Midlands Ambulance Service achieving its category A performance targets in 2009-10. This along with other areas of concern was going to be the subject of further discussions between both sides."

The matter will be discussed during a meeting of NHS Walsall's trust board on Thursday.