AN ambulance service has failed to meet their response time targets for emergency calls.

New data, looking at the East of England Ambulance Service, shows that for the year to August 2016, Red 1 emergency calls in East of England, those involving life-threatening respiratory or heart issues, were responded to within eight minutes 66.9 per cent of the time.

The target for Red 1 and Red 2 calls is to reach patients within eight minutes at least 75 per cent of the time.

For Red 2 calls, all other life-threatening emergencies, only 57.6 per cent of calls were responded to within the vital eight minute window in the East of England Ambulance area.

Liz Bannister, from Lindon Way, Canvey, had a traumatic experience when her mum had to wait three hours for an ambulance.

She said: “My mum had a fall outside her house and was on the concrete for three hours on a boiling hot day. There were several calls made to the ambulance service but she was on the floor from noon to 3pm when they arrived. I was not best pleased with the ambulance but once they arrived, they were quick.”

Kevin Brown, director of service delivery, said: “Whilst the number of critically ill patients we are seeing has increased considerably, we are getting to more of these patients quicker compared to last year.

“Over recent weeks we have been amongst the best performing trusts nationally for Red 1 calls, our most critically ill patients, and are looking at ways in which we can build on that, for example by supporting many more of our callers with clinical telephone advice.

“Our ambition is to provide the best possible responses to our communities and that is done through the efforts of our staff, managers and volunteers.”

GMB London, the union for ambulance staff has blamed it on the Government and said that high vacancy rates and staff shortages mean staff have to take on more responsibility.