Ambulance response times to life-threatening calls in Wiltshire are not meeting their targets.

Latest figures show Red 1 calls which require an ambulance response in eight minutes achieved 62.54 per cent against a target of 75 per cent.

For Red 2 calls, again requiring an ambulance response within eight minutes, the response rate in Wiltshire is 65.33 per cent against a target of 75 per cent.

The figures are for April to June this year. Red 1 are calls for the most time-critical response including cardiac arrest patients while Red 2 calls may be life threatening, but are less time critical than Red 1.

Wiltshire was previously part of Great Western Ambulance Service, but GWAS merged with South Western Ambulance Service in February. South Western covers Wiltshire, Avon, Gloucestershire, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

Performance for Red 1 calls place Wiltshire the second lowest in the 12 Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) areas covered by South Western, while for Red 2 calls Wiltshire is the worst performing.

In contrast, response times in Swindon were the best in the 12 CCG areas – Red 1 was 90.66 per cent and Red 2 was 89.98 per cent.

When Wiltshire was part of GWAS response times to life-threatening calls were often below 75 per cent.

Wiltshire CCG chief officer Deborah Fielding and chief finance officer Simon Truelove met South Western’s chief executive Ken Wenman two weeks ago asking him to focus on performance in Wiltshire, but acknowledged the difficulties of the rural nature of the county.

A spokesman for South Western Ambulance Service (SWASFT) said the primary reason why it was not achieving the 75 per cent target for Red 1 and 2 calls in Wiltshire was due to an increase of 999 calls – 5.9 per cent compared to the previous year – including a significant number from the new 111 non-emergency telephone healthline.

The spokesman said: “SWASFT always strives to provide the best possible response available. Red 1 is a particularly difficult target to achieve given the low number of calls. The trust attends between three and four Red 1 calls per day in the Wiltshire area.

“If these calls are made in remote areas then achievement of the 75 per cent standard is a significant challenge.”

The spokesman said improvements in response times are expected later in the year as improvements – including recruiting more first responders who can operate defibrillators in Calne, Corsham, Pewsey, Royal Wootton Bassett and Bradford on Avon plus additional rapid response cars in Avon take effect.

Specific actions in Wiltshire include recruiting more Community First Responders (volunteers who can operate defibrillators), which will reduce the times when Wiltshire crews are called into Avon at times of high demand. An independent agency will review the operational resources.

Other measures are the creation of a new standby point in Salisbury, a GP responding in a SWASFT vehicle based in Swindon but also visiting patients in the wider Wiltshire area and