David Chadwick is calling for an improvement to the "extraordinary" ambulance response times in his constituency.

The MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe said in the Commons that people in rural Powys are suffering as a consequence of delays to ambulances turning up or, in some cases, not turning up at all.

Mr Chadwick raised an example from his constituency where an 82-year-old man was forced to drive his wife who had suffered a stroke from Rhayader to Hereford while she was paralysed and vomiting, without any medical assistance - a journey of nearly 50 miles.

The MP said they were forced to make the trip themselves after having waited two hours for an ambulance, only to then be told there could be an additional wait of between four and seven hours.

“Shockingly, that is not an isolated case. It is an experience to which many people across rural Wales can relate," Mr Chadwick told the Commons.

Mr Chadwick asked Welsh Secretary, Jo Stevens, what she is doing to reassure his constituents that an ambulance will turn up in their hour of need.

Ms Stevens said she was very sorry to hear about the experience of Mr Chadwick’s constituent.

She said: “The Welsh Government announced £610 million additional funding for the Welsh NHS and for social care [in the draft budget].

“I hope that his colleague in the Senedd will vote for the Welsh Government Budget so that we can see that investment go into the NHS to deliver the improvements in waiting times that we all want to see.”

Speaking after the exchange, Mr Chadwick said: “Residents across Powys and right across Wales are having to wait extraordinarily long for ambulances to arrive during their hour of need. Most people I know in Powys have either experienced this themselves or know someone who has.

“It is frightening for local residents that a seven-hour wait for an ambulance is no longer considered an unusual case.

“None of this is the fault of our fantastic healthcare workers who are working extremely hard under challenging circumstances.”

The MP has also warned that the government’s National Insurance rise for care providers risks making the situation worse and has called on Labour to cancel the policy.

This follows a statement recently by Care Forum Wales that the measures announced in the UK Government Budget could cause “a collapse in the social care system in Wales”.

“If social care providers shut down, there will be more blocked beds at hospitals and even more ambulances will be left queuing, unable to attend their next call," added Mr Chadwick.

Last month it was announced the Welsh Government is to review its time targets set for ambulances to reach the most life-threatening calls.

The target time for a ‘red’ call in Wales is for a response to arrive on scene within eight minutes for 65 per cent of calls

The target was reached on just 50.4 per cent of calls in October and hasn't been hit since the summer of 2020.

The Welsh Ambulance Service said it was “deeply sorry” to hear of the family’s experience.

Jeff Morris, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Head of Service in Powys, said: “We sincerely apologise to the family and all our patients who have experienced long waits, because it’s absolutely not the service we want to provide for the people of Wales.

“Poor ambulance response times are a symptom of much broader system-wide pressures, including hospital handover delays, which hamper our ability to respond to other 999 calls in the community.

“Coupled with the busy winter period and the rise in seasonal illnesses, our ambulance service is not always able to help people in the way we would like.

“This winter, we're working with commissioners and Welsh Government to test a number of new approaches to improve patient safety and quality of care.

“This includes using the skills of our people differently and managing more patients closer to home to ensure our emergency ambulances are more readily available for those who need us most."

In this week’s draft budget, the Welsh Government announced more than £600m extra in revenue and capital funding for health and social care in 2025-26.

This includes an extra £467m in day-to-day funding for the NHS.

The B&R asked the Welsh Government what actions are being taken to improve ambulance response times, particularly in rural areas, and how its funding plans for the NHS and social care, including the £610 million announced, will address these delays.

We also asked for a comment on the specific ambulance delay case raised by Mr Chadwick this week.

A spokesperson for the Welsh Government told us it could not comment on individual cases.

The spokesperson said: “Health boards and the ambulance service are responsible for delivering safe, timely and effective emergency response everywhere in Wales. Patients should be transferred from ambulances to emergency departments safely and quickly, releasing ambulance clinicians to respond to other patients.

“We have made more funding available this year to help manage more people with urgent care needs in the community and safely avoid admission to hospital.”