Patients in Powys need better protection by ensuring there are more ambulances and staff available, Montgomeryshire AM Russell George has warned.

Mr George warned that more resources were vital to ensure that patients were not being put at risk and urged the Welsh Government to allocate more resources to ensure patients with serious conditions, including strokes, are not at risk of unnecessary harm.

Mr George’s call comes as figures showed that some stroke patients are waiting for more than two hours for medical treatment.

He said the Welsh response system, which sees targets only for the most serious category ‘red’ calls, should be changed to be more like the system in England which has four tiered categories.

He said: “Ambulance staff work extremely hard, providing outstanding support, often in difficult circumstances, in an effort to deliver the best possible care to patients but they are simply not receiving adequate resources from the Welsh Government to do their job effectively.

“Reports that those with serious medical conditions, such as strokes, are waiting too long for a response to an ‘amber’ ambulance call because of the lack of ambulance response time targets in Wales for this category of medical condition, underlines the importance of the number of ambulances on the road here in mid Wales, but also an increase in the number of paramedics and medical staff.

“The safety of patients is being threatened and I will continue to call on the Welsh Government to listen to expert advice and the calls of deservedly worried members of the public until such time as this very serious issue is addressed and target times for responses to amber calls are put in place.”

A Welsh Government spokesperson said the government was looking at how it could help improve services for stroke patients.

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