OXFORDSHIRE's ambulance service is not expected to meet their performance targets for ambulance response times this year.

At a board meeting of Oxford's Clinical Commissioning Group yesterday, an action plan was given to South Central Ambulance Service ordering them to increase their staff resources to meet demand for emergency services.

In September the ambulance service were called to 151 Red 1 incidents, reaching 105 (69.5%) within their eight minute target. This was below the service's target of 75%.

Red 1 incidents are defined as life threatening injuries, such as cardiac arrest, which require a response within eight minutes. 

The service also fell below their 75% target on Red 2 incidents - which have the potential to be life threatening - reaching 68.7% of incidents within eight minutes.