A former MP says Gloucestershire “cannot go on like this” as people suffering from emergencies such as heart attacks, strokes and major burns are waiting almost an hour for an ambulance on average.

Labour County Councillor David Drew, a former MP for Stroud, severely criticised the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust at a council meeting today for their failure to meet response time targets for category two incidents.

Category two calls are those for emergencies or potentially serious conditions that require rapid assessment or urgent transport such as heart attack, stroke, sepsis, major burns, epilepsy, and chest pain.

The ambulance trust aims to respond to such calls in 30 minutes on average.

But the latest figures presented at the health overview and scrutiny committee meeting at Gloucestershire County Council today (November 26) show the average response was 57.2 minutes in October 2024, increasing on the September average of 38.4 mins.

Handover delays also rose slightly across the month, to a total of 3,764 hours lost, and an average handover time of 89 minutes up from 57 minutes in September.

Councillor Drew (L, Stroud Central) raised serious concerns over ambulance response times in the county.

He claimed response times were much better when the county had its own ambulance service.

“We can’t go on like this,” he said. “Quite clearly, SWASFT isn’t working.

“It wasn’t like this in the old days when we had our own ambulance service.”

Chairman Andrew Gravells (C, Abbey) told the committee to be careful with its language. “To say that SWASFT isn’t working, isn’t accurate, is it?”

Cllr Drew said: “I am Andrew, but the point is that there is something wrong with the logistics.

“It’s the problem with the upward spike. The spikes if you look at the graph it’s quite incredible how suddenly the service deteriorates.

“And that is people’s lives on the line. We do need to look at that again. They need to be honest with us. Is it that they can’t get the people to do the service properly?

“Or is it something to do with the nature of where we are.”

He said it would be pertinent to get a view of how the county compares with others in the South West.

“If it’s worse in Gloucestershire, why is it? If it’s across the whole of the South West, there is a real issue with the way this service is currently being operated.”

Councillor Paul Hodgkinson (LD, Bourton-on-the-Water and Northleach), who has consistently raised concerns over response times in the Cotswolds, asked “what on earth” is going on in the rural parts of the county.

“It’s always significantly worse,” he said. “I’d like to see a breakdown, ward by ward to see what’s going on where.

“Obviously the handover times are still very high.”

A spokesperson for SWASFT said they are working with health colleagues across the county to ensure the service is improved.

They acknowledge some patients are still waiting longer than anyone would like but are committed to making improvements.

“We are working together as one across health and care to ensure that the journey in and out of hospital is as smooth as it can be and we are grateful for the positive and supportive approach taken by many community partners.

“We acknowledge that some patients are still waiting longer than any of us would like and we are absolutely committed to making further improvements, ensuring patients receive high-quality, timely care.

“A whole raft of measures have been put in place to improve ambulance response times, handover arrangements and support people to leave hospital when safe to do so with ongoing care support if needed.

“It’s this spirit of partnership working that will ensure further progress is made, acknowledging that many of the challenges facing ambulance services can only be overcome by working together and are a shared responsibility.

“We would like to thank our fantastic frontline health and care teams across Gloucestershire who continue to work tirelessly to support service users every day under significant pressure.”