AMBULANCE response times in the region are some of the lowest in the country for the most serious 999 calls, according to a report.

The National Audit Office published its report into the 11 nationwide ambulance trusts today which showed the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust languishing at the bottom of the table in terms of response times.

The trust responded to 72.5 per cent of category A calls within eight minutes of the call being made in 2009/10.

These calls are the most serious 999 calls such as cardiac arrests or major road accidents.

The national target is for an emergency vehicle to arrive at the scene within eight minutes in at least 75 per cent of cases.

The West Midlands ambulance service was second from bottom in this category, with only Yorkshire performing worse with 70.8 per cent.

Top of the table was the south western service which managed to reach 78.3 per cent of category A calls within eight minutes.

However, West Midlands ambulance service had better results in terms of the longer, category A target of reaching 95 per cent of category A calls within 19 minutes.

The trust managed this in 97.5 per cent of cases.

The report recognises that ambulance trusts are having to make four per cent efficiency savings, and that the category A call target is “one of the most demanding in the world”.

Since call connect was introduced in April 2008, the clock starts ticking from the moment a 999 call is connected to the ambulance control room so phones have to be answered quicker.

Rural areas such as Worcestershire and Herefordshire also present challenges for quick response times when compared with urban areas.

The West Midlands trust is one of the more skilled in the country with 67 per cent of staff qualified paramedics, the third most skilled ambulance service in the country.

The trust also made more efficient use of vehicles than other trusts. The trust sent more than one vehicle to an incident in 47 per cent of cases compared with Great Western which did this 67 per cent of the time (2009-10).

A spokesman for West Midlands Ambulance Service said: “It highlights many of the issues that the trust has been working on over the last few years which are allowing us to provide a faster and more clinically appropriate service to the people of the region.”

He said the trust is now two years into a programme of improving staff skills which is aimed at having 70 per cent of frontline staff qualified as paramedics.

“In addition, this year we will train more than 100 of our staff to advanced paramedic level,” he said. “Increasing the skill level of our staff is good news for patients as they will be able to treat many more patients in their own homes.”