THE troubled Wiltshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust has set out plans to improve its performance, amid concerns about slow response times in rural areas.

The trust, which was stripped of its star rating last year, is facing a tough challenge, following claims that it is underfunded and has insufficient crews to cover the county.

Amesbury is an area where performance is poor, with just 32 per cent of the most urgent 999 calls being reached within eight minutes - which is a long way behind the government's target of 75 per cent.

But the trust's acting chief executive, Tim Skelton, told a meeting of Amesbury town council last week that measures were in place to turn the service around.

"We have a way to go with our response times but things are already starting to get better," he said.

"First, we are increasing the number of relief staff, to cover breaks, holidays, training and sickness. We are also looking at our first-responder schemes with two to three motorcycles covering rural areas to reach emergencies quickly.

"We also want to use community paramedics who work from home and respond to calls in their communities. And we are working with military responders and voluntary schemes such as St John Ambulance."

The shake-up also involves reassessing the deployment of existing crews, although this has sparked fears that rural areas will be neglected, as resources are concentrated on towns and cities.

"We have to look at where we can base our staff so that we can deploy them most effectively," said Mr Skelton.

"We are also investing in technology. We are one of the only trusts in the country with no automated vehicle location showing where our crews are. With that, we can save valuable seconds that will automatically improve response times."

As part of the scheme, ambulance staff will also have more opportunity for training and development.

Although some members of the public remained angry and concerned by the performance of the service, Amesbury councillors said they were "optimistic and reassured" by the proposals.

"We know we have a lot to do," added Mr Skelton.

"We have a growing elderly population and are receiving more 999 calls, with patients choosing to call an ambulance because there is less care in the community.

"But we shall not be complacent. We are working hard to bring real change to the service."