THE ambulance service reached the scene of more than 78% of the most serious 999 calls in Powys within its eight minute target during June.

Latest figures published by the Welsh Government show from 51 calls classed as "red" - life and death situations - 78.4% received a response with the eight minute target time.

That meant the ambulance service failed to reach 11 of the 51 calls within the target time.

The Welsh Government said the June figures show the best performance by the Welsh Ambulance Service since it introduced new targets last October.

It is also the first time the service surpassed the national target in all seven health board areas in Wales. Improvements in responsiveness have been made month on month since March.

A total of 77.1% of emergency responses to an immediately life-threatening illness or injury, known as red calls, arrived within eight minutes across Wales. That was above the target of 65%, and up from 75.5% in May.

The government said the standard response to this type of patients was five minutes and one second.

Labour health secretary Vaughan Gething said: "It’s clear from these new statistics that people can be very positive about what’s happening in our ambulance service.

"The people with the greatest need, who are facing life threatening situations, are being seen in the fastest time.

"All of this is being achieved against a backdrop of ever rising demand and pressure on our ambulance service. In June alone there were over 37,000 emergency calls made to the Welsh Ambulance Service - to put that in context that’s an average of 1,235 calls per day."

The Welsh Conservatives said they were concerned when the government scrapped targets for all but the most life-threatening calls but welcomed signs of improvement in recent months.

Shadow health secretary Angel Burns said: "I am pleased to see that there has been some improvement compared to last month, but it’s important to remember that the long term issues with ambulance services haven’t just disappeared overnight."

A total of 1,516 red calls were received in June, an average of 51 a day, four down on the daily average in May.

A quarter of the red calls received (25.4%) were in the Betsi Cadwaladr

Health Board area covering North Wales, while only 3.4% of the red calls were in Powys.Scheme to improve 999 response times extended to Builth Wells -see this week's Brecon & Radnor Express, on sale now