THE ambulance service in Monmouthshire is in desperate need of extra funding and response times are still too slow, a new report says.

Calls are now being made for the Assembly government to provide more cash for ambulances in the county's rural areas.

The report arose from an inquiry by the county council's environment select committee. Ambulance response times and funding were the main priorities.

The inquiry found only 46% of category A emergency calls were answered within the national eight minute target in March 2003 - down from 52% in 2002. The target is 75%.

Staff had to deal with 17% more calls, and a 25%-30% increased workload since 2000.

It also found only six ambulances are based in Monmouthshire. Just three of those are on 24-hour call for category A emergencies.

The committee report says that without additional funding response times will not improve.

The former Gwent Health Authority area required £1.7m for improvements to the ambulance service, but only received £187,000, which went to Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly - the poorest localities.

The report concludes: "We are still concerned with the response times. For the service to dramatically im-prove in rural Monmouthshire more funding is needed."

It recommends that the Assembly is requested to invests more.

An Assembly spokeswoman said: "Since April 2003 funding of the ambulance service comes from one central source which has enabled a more consistent, all-Wales service to be provided.

"This means that where services in a particular area need additional assistance it is possible to provide these without diverting resources from other local priorities."

Ambulance bosses say things are improving. Regional officer George Murphy said: "We had additional resources last year - £2.5m across Wales which helped pay for a new ambulance in Monmouthshire.

"Figures have improved slightly since last year and we are currently in excess of 50% for category A calls being answered on time. Our target for the region is 60% by March 2004."

But Councillor Pam Birchall, cabinet member responsible for community safety, said: "The report recommends more funding, but you can throw money at it as much as you like.

"The service needs to be run differently and have a proper plan to combat this crisis."