GREAT Western Ambulance Service will be coming under increasing scrutiny from three local authorities, it was announced today.

Councillors from Bristol City Council, Gloucestershire County Council and Swindon Borough Councils have joined forces to monitor the Ambulance Trust, which has fallen short of meeting response times in the last year.

GWAS was created in 2006 when Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Avon Ambulance Trusts merged and over the last 18 months the trust has been working to improve response times, particularly in rural areas.

The joint committee of councillors will focus on addressing poor performance and sustaining response times.

Cllr Andrew Gravells, chairman of the Gloucestershire health overview scrutiny committee, said: "In Gloucestershire, Great Western Ambulance Service has failed to consistently achieve the national target of responding to 75 per cent of urgent life threatening calls within eight minutes.

"Furthermore the trust was rated as weak for quality of services and weak for use of resources in the most recent Healthcare Commission ratings.

"By working together health scrutiny committees from Bristol, Gloucestershire and Swindon will be able to oversee the work of the trust to make sure, on behalf of the population we serve, that the performance of Great Western Ambulance Service improves."

Chief executive of GWAS, Tim Lynch, said: "We have been working closely with our key partners in local government and we are pleased that they have agreed to form a joint health overview and scrutiny committee.

"They have an important role in holding healthcare providers to account by asking questions on behalf of local residents.

"This joint approach will allow us to discuss the key issues for the trust in the one arena and to share with them the improvements we are making."

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