AMBULANCE re-sponse times must improve in rural areas.

Both Romsey MP Sandra Gidley and her Conservative rival, Caroline Nokes, agree this should be a top priority for South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS).

Mrs Gidley met SCAS chairman, Neil Goulden, this week in a bid to get some answers to why ambulances are not hitting government targets for response times in rural and even some semi-urban areas, like North Baddesley and Romsey.

Ambulances are expected to reach 75 per cent of serious Category A calls within eight minutes.

“What is worrying is the ambulance service is not hitting the 75 per cent target in North Baddesley and Romsey,” said Mrs Gidley.

But the MP did not blame SCAS. She said it was down to Hampshire Primary Care Trust and the South Central Specialised Commissioning Group to make sure no area in the county was “disadvantaged”.

She pointed out that South Western Ambulance Service, covering Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, operates differently, resulting in better response times.

“The simple solution would be to better fund the ambulance service and have more ambulances, but in the current financial situation we know the money won’t be available. A lot comes from the way services are commissioned and funded,” added the MP, describing her meeting with Mr Goulden as “interesting”.

“He was very open and direct about the problems faced by the ambulance service and he admitted people in rural areas didn’t get such a good service,” concluded Mrs Gidley. The Conservative fighting to take Mrs Gidley’s parliamentary seat at the forthcoming General Election has also expressed her concerns about ambulance cover in the Test Valley.

Mrs Nokes said it is clear that ambulance response times in some wards in the borough are well outside government targets.

“In rural areas we cannot expect the same speedy services as in towns.

However figures like the 84 per cent in Over Wallop and 62 per cent in the Blackwater ward being outside the target are not acceptable.”

These figures came from the recent One Place Survey on quality life, conducted by the Audit Commission, which she said showed that rural areas were being let down badly.

“We need to know what the cause of the problem is, just how serious the implications are and more particularly what is being done to address it?” she said.

Mrs Nokes, who has written to the SCAS chairman.