Only around four in 10 ambulances responding to the most serious callouts in Wales arrived within the eight-minute target in December, figures released on Wednesday revealed.
The Labour-led government in Cardiff, whose record on health is a major general election issue, said the figures showed the huge pressure the ambulance services was under during December but were nonetheless disappointing.
The target is for 65% of emergency responses to category A calls (immediately life-threatening) to arrive at the scene within eight minutes. The figure achieved was 42.6% – down from 51% in November and from 57.6% in December 2013.
According to the statistics, there were 40,147 emergency calls, 11.2% up on November 2014 and 7.6% up on December 2013.
Of these, 16,078 were category A (immediately life-threatening) calls, 14.3% up on November 2014 and 9.3% up on December 2013.
Just under half (47.4%) of category A calls received an emergency response within nine minutes, 52% within 10 minutes, 68.9% within 15 minutes, 79.1% within 20 minutes and 89.8% within 30 minutes.
The median response time was 9 minutes and 33 seconds while the mean response time was 14 minutes and 39 seconds.
A Welsh government spokesperson said: “These figures demonstrate the immense pressure the Welsh ambulance service was under throughout December.
The demand on the service was unprecedented, with the service receiving 40,147 calls during the month, or around 1,295 a day. They are nevertheless disappointing and there is no complacency about the need to improve performance.”
Ahead of the publication of the figures, the Welsh government announced an £11m package of investment designed to improve the performance of the ambulance service.
The spokesperson said: “Improving the performance of the emergency ambulance service is a priority for the Welsh government.”
Part of the additional investment will allow the ambulance service to purchase 17 new additional frontline emergency ambulances, which will join the existing fleet of 243.
The figures were immediately seized on by Labour’s opponents.
Kirsty Williams, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said: “These figures are absolutely appalling and the Welsh Labour government should be ashamed.
“Behind these statistics are people who are often in desperate need of attention and who are sadly not getting the care they need in the appropriate time.
“While there was a large increase in the number of emergency calls compared to the previous month, that is no excuse for failure on this giant scale.
“We all understand the added pressures our NHS is under, but 15 years of a Welsh Labour government has led to inadequate cancer care, poor ambulance response times and dire A&E waiting times. Labour’s poverty of ambition had held Wales back for far too long.
“NHS staff and paramedics work incredibly hard and do an extremely difficult job, which we are all thankful for, but even they privately admit that they’re not being given the resources they need to serve the people of Wales.”
