"We must bear in mind that in order to reach these targets we will need extra funding

Dafydd Jones-Morris, Regional Ambulance Officer

The government has set a target for ambulance services to reach 75% of life threatening calls within eight minutes by December 2002.

North Wales crews have so far achieved the best record - reaching 56% in that time compared to a Welsh average of just over 50%.

However, the trust says they are struggling to keep up with an increase in demand

Ambulance bosses say there has been a 17% rise in the number of calls to incidents where lives are under immediate threat.

Regional Ambulance Officer Dafydd Jones-Morris said staff have worked hard.

"I'm quite proud and very thankful to them for their continued enthusiasm and commitment," he said

"The workload has gone up and we have strict guidelines to adhere to."

Emergency Care

The governments targets are part of plans to improve emergency care which are set out in Reforming Emergency Care.

However, ambulance chiefs say that more money is needed to obtain these standards.

"We must bear in mind that in order to reach these targets we will need extra funding," added Mr Morris-Jones.

The continued difficulty in meeting improved performance standards due to increased demand was discussed by the Trust board on Tuesday.