AMBULANCE call out times are still not good enough in South Gloucestershire and the local authority is calling for action.

Response times at Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) have improved for the first time since Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire services merged three years ago. However, they still do not meet Government targets and South Gloucestershire Council wants to see a dramatic turnaround as soon as possible.

At a meeting of the authority’s health scrutiny select committee last week, councillors called for a six-month review of GWAS following a management reshuffle.

Cllr Sue Hope (Lib Dem, Cotswold Edge) said: "I think we need a review of ambulance times and particularly of ambulances going to Frenchay Hospital, because those times were the worst."

In February this year, ambulances in the area arrived at 93.7 percent of all Category A calls within 19 minutes, which is less than the national target of 95 percent.

GWAS also falls short of the 75 percent target to reach all Category A patients within eight minutes, instead only managing 68.1 percent.

The directive to reach 95 percent of Category B or not life threatening calls within 19 minutes was also missed, as the service reached 86.8 percent.

Cllr Andy Perkins (Lab, Woodstock) said: "Under performance has been going on for years and years.

"I know there is proposed action but I don’t really see any improvement."

Cllr Perkins questioned whether the council had the power to insist on further improvements.

Ann Jarvis, director of service development at NHS South Gloucestershire, said: "Our ultimate sanction would be to say the trust cannot deliver and tender for another trust to run the service.

"But that would take a long time and would be very disruptive.

"Our thoughts at the moment are that we need to keep working together."

Grant Addison, associate director at NHS South Gloucestershire, said: "The figures are continuing to improve. GWAS has a new chief executive and there has been a restructure of the control rooms."

He said there were no mandatory performance targets for ambulance handover times after delivering a patient to hospital but at Frenchay Hospital, 91 percent were completed within 45 minutes which is seen as the maximum acceptable time.

The committee agreed to review the response and handover times in six months.