Published Date: 16 May 2008

By Alexandra Wood Yorkshire Post

AMBULANCES are missing emergency response target times too often in rural parts of East Yorkshire, an MP has warned.

Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart says figures for the past year for his constituency shows that cover is "significantly" worse than in Yorkshire as a whole.

Between last April and this March Yorkshire-wide, ambulances hit the Category A eight minute response for immediately life-threatening cases 73.5 per cent of the time (compared to national target of 75 per cent).

The Category A 19 minute response – for those who need to go to hospital – was reached 96.2 per cent of the time (better than the 95 per cent target) and the Category B 19 minute response – for "serious but not life threatening" cases – was hit 92.4 per cent of the time (against a target of 95 per cent).

However, in his constituency, the Category A response was reached just 64.5 per cent of the time, the second target 92.1 per cent of the time and the third 90.3 per cent of the time.

Mr Stuart said he had warned the Government at the time of the mergers between individual ambulance trusts to form Yorkshire Ambulance Service in 2006 that areas like his constituency could be neglected.

He added: "These figures would suggest that this has happened."

He'd met the ambulance service's chief executive and was now writing asking for a more detailed breakdown.

Paul Mudd, assistant director of operations for Hull and East Riding at Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) said "significant long-term investment" had been made in Hull and the East Riding in the past year, including six new rapid response vehicles and 34 extra operational staff.

He added: "We are committed to delivering excellent patient care in the East Riding and throughout the whole of Yorkshire."