THE ambulance service which covers the Thames Valley has missed its response targets for the most life-threatening calls for the ninth month in a row – but Berkshire is the best performing county, new figures have revealed.

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), which comprises Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire, has failed to meet national targets, which mean all ambulances in the UK have to respond to at least 75 per cent of the most serious ‘Red 1’ calls – when someone becomes unresponsive and has a life-threatening condition like a cardiac arrest – within eight minutes.

The same target is set for Red 2 calls – when a person has a potentially life-threatening condition such as a stroke.

From last April until February this year, SCAS only answered 70 per cent of Red 1 calls within the time limit and only 68 per cent of Red 2 calls – though figures for the county show it is above target for its Red 1 performance at 75.5 per cent but slightly below target at 73.8 per cent for its Red 2 objective.

Over the nine months, SCAS attended 2,374 Red 1 incidents in Berkshire and 37,207 Red 2 incidents. On average, the service receives 1,866 calls every day, rising to 3,000 on other days and responds to patients in life-threatening conditions in under 7 minutes.

Mark Ainsworth, director of operations, said: “This means that when we miss the eight minute target time it is usually by a matter of seconds.

“What is more important to the patients we treat in such life-threatening emergencies is the outcome for the patient. Today we are saving more lives than ever before despite demand for Red calls increasing by 60 per cent since 2011.

“SCAS is the best performing ambulance trust in England for the percentage of people who suffer a cardiac arrest and survive to leave hospital. We are also above the national average for getting people suffering a heart attack or suspected stroke the urgent care they need.

“And today, patients suffering a major trauma – such as serious injuries in a road traffic accident – have a 63 per cent greater chance of survival than they did seven years ago.”

Executive member for health at Bracknell Forest Council, Cllr Dale Birch, said: “The important thing is that ambulances are available and in the vast majority of cases, people with serious conditions are getting picked up and taken to the appropriate place in an acceptable way and that the actual number of fatalities that are resulting from delays isn’t critical.

“We still have people who will summon or demand an ambulance even when not really necessary. I think we can all help our ambulance by being absolutely certain that when we do call an ambulance it is for the right level emergency.

“But I am always concerned when targets aren’t being met. An occasional blip we can all be sympathetic to, but if we have had nine consecutive periods when targets haven’t been met then surely questions have to be asked. The big question is, have we seen a rise in mortality rates attributed to delays in the ambulance service?”