PATIENTS in half the villages around Huddersfield are waiting too long for an ambulance.

Figures released yesterday show Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) is failing to get to emergency calls in time.

Paramedics are expected to reach 75% of life-threatening calls within eight minutes.

But YAS failed to hit the target in 63 of the 126 areas of Kirklees.

This accounted for 3,397 – or 40% – of all calls made.

The problem is particularly serious in areas including Holme, Skelmanthorpe and Scholes.

Response times in Huddersfield and Dewsbury are much quicker than in rural areas.

Kirklees Council’s Scrutiny Panel yesterday published a review of YAS’s performance.

Councillors began the study last year after it was revealed that ambulances got to just 66% of life-threatening calls within eight minutes in Kirklees in 2009/10 – the worst figure in Yorkshire.

The panel’s recommendations include:

Reviewing the location of ambulance stand-by points.

Introducing ambulance cleaners at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary (HRI) and Dewsbury and District Hospital to reduce turnaround times for vehicles.

Improving ambulance parking at HRI.

Increasing the number of volunteer paramedics – known as community first responders – in rural areas.

Clr Liz Smaje, who chaired the panel, said yesterday: “We acknowledge the increased demand for ambulance services and we welcome the work already done by YAS to improve performance.

“We would like to thank YAS for their valuable input into the evidence gathering process and assisting us to create what we consider a well-balanced scrutiny report.

“However, it is important that those geographical areas where the service is under-performing are addressed as part of a structured plan.”

YAS assistant director Tasnim Ali said: “Year-on-year our response times continue to show steady improvement and we are reaching patients more quickly than ever before.

“We welcome the input from the Kirklees Scrutiny Panel and are pleased that they have recognised the positive progress already made by the trust to improve response times in the area.

“We will continue to work closely with them to further improve services in Kirklees, especially those in the more rural areas of the patch.

“At the end of February 2011, our year-to-date performance for the Kirklees area shows that we are reaching 75% of patients with potentially life-threatening illnesses within eight minutes and 40 seconds.”