AMBULANCE service chiefs have been urged to do more to ensure appropriate ambulance cover is available in Ceredigion and ambulances are not diverted to deal with calls in areas such as Swansea.

Elin Jones AM quizzed senior staff of the Welsh Ambulance Trust during the National Assembly’s Health and Social Care Committee and called for a south Wales valleys trial that sees ambulances ring-fenced to be introduced in Ceredigion.

Under the trial, ambulances which deliver patients out of their main base area to other hospitals such as Morriston in Swansea would not be expected to cover emergency calls in the locality after transferring the patient.

Currently there are fears that when ambulances from Ceredigion transfer patients out of the county to hospital, they then get tied up covering calls in the area they’ve travelled to.

Ms Jones said there were also concerns that in Ceredigion, crews currently have few breaks and face long journeys home at the end of their shift.

See this week’s south editions for the full story, in shops and online on Wednesday