AMBULANCES in Wiltshire failed to reach four in ten critically ill patients in the eight-minute target in November.

The ambulance service’s own figures revealed patients in “immediately life-threatening” conditions were having to wait too long, too often.

The target is to reach three quarters of the most serious incidents like cardiac arrests and strokes in eight minutes.

But in November ambulances arrived on time in just six in ten of almost 2,000 life-threatening incidents.

The service says there was “unprecedented” demand this winter, and December’s figures are expected to be even worse.

South West Ambulance Service Foundation Trust (SWASFT) has outlined steps to tackle the problem, including hiring more frontline staff, more money for emergency response and investing in defibrillators in public places.

One area for improvement is saving time when handing patients over at A&E. The report revealed 1,187 handover delays of more than 30 minutes in November, 243 of which lasted more than an hour.

SWASFT covers several counties from Gloucestershire to Cornwall. Its overall performance in November fell short of national targets for all category A incidents, split into two sections – Red 1 and Red 2.

For Red 1 incidents, including cardiac arrests and life-threatening traumas, the trust responded inside eight minutes 74.67 per cent of the time.

For Red 2 incidents, such as strokes and serious breathing difficulties, it was 70.79 per cent.

Wiltshire was the worst performing county in the SWASFT region for both Red 1 (59 per cent) and Red 2 (61 per cent).

The report said performance was “significantly off plan” and there was “insufficient evidence of improvement”.