WILTSHIRE Ambulance Service has had its official rating cut from two stars out of three to zero amid consistent failure to meet targets for reaching the most serious emergencies.

But Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, which runs Great Western Hospital, and Swindon Primary Care Trust, which runs community health care, are both celebrating two-star ratings from watchdog the Commission for Health Improvement.

The latest available figures for Wiltshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust show that in March it reached 69.18 per cent of its most serious cases within eight minutes. In April and May the percentages were, respectively, 70.76 and 66.95.

The target set by the Government is 75 percent.

Ambulance trust chief executive, Dennis Lauder, said: "The trust was given extra funds in May, enabling us to make operational improvements which will show through in August and September."

He added that four new ambulances had been bought to replace older ones, along with four Honda CRV all-terrain vehicles to enable staff to rapidly reach and treat patients in remote areas prior to the arrival of an ambulance.

He also pointed out that various new senior personnel had been appointed, including a risk manager, and that the improvement drive had been acknowledged by the Government's NHS Modernisation Agency.

Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust bosses are hailing that trust's result as impressive, covering as it does a year in which the move from Princess Margaret Hospital to Great Western Hospital took place.

The trust scored well on nine key targets, including those set for seeing patients within two weeks of urgent GP referrals for suspected cancer, infection control procedures, the re-admission of patients whose operations have been cancelled within 28 days and improving the working lives of staff.

However, the trust was below average when it came to breast cancer treatment, and delayed discharges due to a lack of community placements for patients.

In previous years, the report was prepared by the Department of Health, but the latest has been prepared by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI).

The CHI was also responsible for preparing another report on NHS Trusts, which was released last week. Whereas the star rating covers issues such as waiting times, financial management and clinical and patient focus, last week's covered slightly different criteria, such as risk management, staffing and management and the use of information.

In that report, the Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust was placed among the top 10 per cent in the country, securing two points out of four in six of seven key areas and three points in one education and training.

Asked about the two-star rating, NHS Trust chief executive Lyn Hill-Tout said: "Maintaining our two-star status for our performance in a year when there were so many other demands on our time is a remarkable achievement.

"To deliver high levels of patient care when everyone in the organisation was heavily involved in the relocation speaks volumes for the calibre and dedication of our staff."

Among the statistics which earned the two-star rating were having no outpatients waiting longer than 26 weeks for an appointment and having an infection control procedure rated 91 out of 100 (the national average is 83).

However, the trust was also below the average standards on certain points, including delayed discharges running at 8.7 per cent of patients against a national average of four per cent and seeing 91 per cent of breast cancer patients within a month of diagnosis the national figure is 99 per cent.

At Swindon Primary Care Trust, chief executive Jan Stubbings, said of that trust's two-star rating: "Overall we are very pleased with the results, which are all the more remarkable when you consider that Swindon PCT has been in existence only one year."

Have you or a friend or loved one experienced the delayed arrival of an ambulance? If so, contact the Evening Advertiser newsdesk on (01793) 528144 or bhudson@newswilts.co.uk.