RUSSELL GEORGE AM has been calling on the Labour run Welsh Government to apologise to patients for Ambulance waiting times.

But he was told by Welsh Government Health Secretary, Vaughan Gething, the problems he highlighted stem from England, where the NHS is run by the Westminster Conservative Government.

Mr George, Conservative AM, for Montgomeryshire has received complaints from constituents about ambulance waiting times and quizzed the Health Secretary about these problems.

They have been highlighted by two incidents, on in Welshpool and one in Newtown where the injured party had to wait for several hours before being treated.

Mr Russell AM, said: “Ambulance staff work extremely hard in difficult circumstances to deliver the best possible care.

“Residents often speak of the outstanding support and service which they receive from paramedics and the ambulance service when they are in their care.

“That’s why it’s so sad to hear stories where people are forced to wait in pain for many hours."

Mr George added “One constituent who fell over on the street in Newtown waited an hour and a half on a cold pavement for the ambulance to arrive. "In that time, the constituent's situation seriously deteriorated.

"The ambulance trust confirmed that this was unacceptable, and pointed out to me that of the nine emergency vehicles available in the Powys locality at that time, seven were waiting outside hospitals to transfer patients to the care of hospital staff.

“Earlier this month, a Welshpool resident waited seven hours for an ambulance.

"These incidents are unacceptable, and its distressing for the patient, those waiting with the patient, and indeed for the Ambulance staff."

"There is a widespread problem which highlights that hospital handover delays are impacting the Welsh Ambulance Service’s ability to respond to incoming emergency calls.

“There has to be something seriously wrong with the system when ambulances are queued up outside hospitals such as Wrexham Maelor waiting to handover patients and then the knock on effect is that other patients are forced to wait for an ambulance."

At the Senedd in Cardiff, Mr Gething AM , replied to the questions: "In January, 68.3 per cent of red calls in Powys received a response within eight minutes.

"Yes, I recognise the picture you're painting and the fact that, through this winter, we've had more people wait too long to receive a service, and I don't try to claim that that is acceptable at all.

"There's a challenge to understand what we need to do across our system to improve that, indeed including choices about capacity or not, but you highlight one of our challenges, which is lost hours and handover challenges in particular.

"I recognise the distress for individual citizens and their families and also the frustration for staff.

"But your concern about Powys isn't a particular issue about Wrexham Maelor, because I have to say that the bulk of handover delays affecting Powys patients in the last two months are actually at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

"There is a challenge in both Wrexham and Bronglais to be addressed, but the largest part of the challenge affecting your constituents is actually Shrewsbury."