9. Will the First Minister provide an update on the performance of the Welsh ambulance service? OAQ(5)0185(FM)

Yes. In August, the Welsh ambulance service responded to 78.1 per cent of the most life-threatening calls, known as red calls, and that means it’s met its target for the eleventh successive month and is the best ambulance performance since the introduction of the clinical response model pilot last October.

Thank you for that answer. Obviously, the First Minister’s mentioned the fact that the Welsh ambulance service has responded, again, to almost 81 per cent of the most life-threatening calls in eight minutes or less in August and in doing so has met the target for the eleventh successive month. That is a huge testimony to our Welsh ambulance staff.

So, would the First Minister state the response rates for my constituency of Islwyn since the introduction of the clinical response model pilot last October, and indeed, what this demonstrates about the performance of the Welsh ambulance service for my constituents?

I can say to the Member that red performance within the Aneurin Bevan board area was 79.6 per cent in August—above the national average—and performance in this area has improved by more than 10 percentage points over the course of the last year.