Welsh Ambulance 999 responses improve but miss target

Around a third of 999 calls to the ambulance service are judged to be serious and life-threatening

Ambulance response times for life-threatening cases have improved again but are still missing a key target.

Crews reached 59.4% of Category A calls within eight minutes in May, up from 58.7% in April with a target of 65%.

The most serious "Red 1" emergencies saw a response rate of 71% within eight minutes, down from 71.4% in April.

The Welsh government said it was "encouraged" by improvements but the Conservatives said the target had been missed for a 19th consecutive month.

A spokesperson said: "This is the best set of monthly ambulance response figures since November 2013 - we are encouraged to see improvements are being made to the service."

The Conservatives' Shadow Health Minister Darren Millar said: "Any improvement in performance is welcome and all credit must go to the service's hard-working staff.

"It's now crucial that Labour's health minister take steps to implement his commitment to improve and transform the service."

Of the 36,449 emergency calls made to the ambulance service during May, around a third were judged to be serious and life-threatening.

Ambulance chiefs have previously urged people only to call an ambulance if they need one, to reduce pressure on the service.