London's ambulances are among the slowest

London's ambulance service is one of the slowest at responding to urgent calls, official figures out today show.

The Government's target is to reach 95 per cent of urgent, non-life-threatening calls within 14 minutes in urban areas. But London is reaching only 78 per cent of urgent calls, and performance is down one per cent on last year.

Overall, two thirds of the country's services are missing the target.

In 2003/4 only East Midlands, Avon and Mersey Regional ambulance trusts reached fewer calls than London within the target times.

Eleven out of 31 ambulance trusts achieved the target.

But the latest figures show most trusts are reaching lifethreatening calls quickly.

Paramedics should reach 75 per cent of category A calls within eight minutes of a 999 call. In London 76 per cent reached the most serious cases on time.

Health Minister Rosie Winterton said: "We know there is lots more work to do and that performance against the non-life-threatening targets must improve."