HYWEL Dda’s ambulance service has hit a response target for emergency calls despite problems in Powys.

Statistics for May show that every health board in Wales other than Powys met the target that 65 per cent of the most serious calls, categorised as ‘red’ calls, should receive an emergency response inside eight minutes.

Hywel Dda hit the target with 68.8 per cent of red calls receiving a response within eight minutes. While that was the lowest of all health boards that met the target, Powys missed the target with 62.3 per cent of the red calls in the county receiving an emergency response inside the eight-minute timeframe.

Cardiff and Vale Health Board saw the best performance, with 82.9 per cent of red calls receiving a response within eight minutes.

Across Wales an average of 75.5 per cent of red calls received a response within eight minutes.

The figures, released by the Welsh Government, show that Hywel Dda had 193 red calls in May, with 132 receiving a response within eight minutes. In Powys there were 53 calls rated as red, with 33 of them receiving a response within eight minutes.

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