AFTER expressing concerns over ambulance response times, Monmouth MP David Davies stepped up his campaign by joining local paramedics on the front line.

Mr Davies has expressed concerns over the service the public are receiving following a number of incidents, including the case of a Monmouth mother who died nine days after a 41-minute wait for an ambulance.

He spent the day on shift with a crew in the town to find out how the emergency services operate at ground level.

"After a slow start, we were called to Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny to transport a patient with complications to Cardiff as no other ambulances were available," said Mr Davies.

"The interesting point here is that increasing specialisations within hospitals will create greater demand for ambulances to be used to convey existing patients with complications from one hospital to another.

"After that, calls were coming in fast and, as before, the crew had no time to stop for breaks. It was noticeable that another call attended was not an emergency and had come about because the patient was unable to see a GP at home."

Mr Davies has previously raised the issue of turnaround times in hospitals with senior management from the Welsh Ambulance Service.

He said he did not see any evidence of problems while he was with the paramedics as patients were taken in and out within the recommended 15 minutes.

But he added: "I'm aware it has been a problem in the past.

"Indeed, one crew member told me he has had to wait not just minutes but literally hours with patients in hospital meaning that more and more calls back up.

"To be fair, the ambulance service and hospital management at the Royal Gwent in Newport have bought five extra ambulance trollies. This enables crews to come in with a patient on a trolley, hand the patient over to a nurse, then take an empty trolley and go back out even if a bed hasn't been found.

"Electronic signing also means that crews now have to be out of hospital within 10 minutes of handing a patient over.

"Overall, the situation is much improved since I last spent time on shift with a crew several years ago and problems are being acknowledged. However, there is no simple solution.

"I will be shortly be meeting again with senior management when new ambulance facilities are put into Monmouth to discuss the matter further."