Politicians in Cardiff Bay have called for improvement in ambulance response times after figures showed only a third arrived on time.
In December, 815 calls that warranted an ambulance were made in Caerphilly County Borough with only 275, or 33.7%, arriving with the eight minute target time.
Across the Gwent area, 2,563 calls were made with 930 (36.6%) arriving within eight minutes.
The poor performance has been blamed on the snowy weather which Wales suffered last month, but Assembly Members have called for an improvement nonetheless.
William Graham, the Conservative regional AM for South Wales East, said: “During December we faced prolonged periods of snow and exceptionally low temperatures which had an adverse impact upon all services. We must recognise the professionalism and dedication shown by these people at all times; but particularly when under pressure to maintain our vital services.”
“We must ensure that we learn from the difficulties arising during December and that these are incorporated into the working practices in order that we are prepared for further wintry conditions in future years.”
Fellow regional AM Veronia German agreed. The Liberal Democrat said: “I truly hope that this is a lesson learnt for the Assembly Government. The NHS in Wales needs to be fully prepared for whatever weather comes our way and it is up to the Government to ensure that our hard working NHS staff are well equipped and organised to deal with even the harshest of winters.”
Assembly health minister Edwina Hart has praised ambulance staff and other NHS Wales employees for their hard work and dedication.
She said the ambulance figures should be seen in the context of a difficult December.