AMBULANCE services in Oxfordshire have not met targets to reach seriously ill patients for at least a year.

South Central Ambulance Service consistently missed targets to reach patients within eight minutes who had serious breathing problems or a suspected stroke.

Trusts are supposed to reach at least 75 per cent of patients with these symptoms within eight minutes.

Between April 2014, and February 2015, the average for ambulances in Oxfordshire responding to serious calls within eight minutes was 72.22 per cent.

In December, ambulances only reached 66.41 per cent of patients within eight minutes.

Something that holds ambulances up is the handover of patients from ambulance to A&E department.

At the John Radcliffe Hospital, only 70 per cent of patients were transferred from ambulances to hospital wards within 15 minutes.

More than 8,000 patients taken to the Headington hospital had to either wait in the A&E department or in the back of an ambulance for more than a quarter of an hour.

Chief operating officer Sue Byrne, said: “There can be issues as ambulance technicians will stay with the patient until they are convened to the ward.

“I wouldn’t say it is a massive issue, but it is something that we will be working on, along with the trust.”