On 29th April a Ministerial Review into the Welsh Ambulance Trust was released.

The review was launched by the former Minister for Health Lesley Griffiths. It was in response to on-going failures throughout the service, and chaired by Professor McClelland from the University of Glamorgan over 12 weeks. Focus groups discovered that there was a "culture of fear" in the service.

The review also calls for new "clear vision" for the ambulance service, and big changes to the way it works. The review also found there was a "fundamental problem with the current accountability and governance arrangements" of the Welsh ambulance service which it describes as "complex and lacking in clarity". These findings have been discussed at length over the past two years in Monmouth.

In response to the review, Monmouth-based ambulance campaigner, Mat Davies, told BBC Radio Wales that "the review had some very good elements in it. For example it points out that we should not dogmatically focus on performance targets because they don't represent clinical outcomes, and the underlying problem was accountability. It confirms that we need a scrutiny inquiry".

The review proposes three models in order to reform the service. One option would be to run the service as a separate health board with the same funding, performance and accountability mechanism. This would include direct funds from the Welsh Government. Another option would see ambulance services commissioned directly by health boards with clearer aims and procedures.

Mr Davies asserts that: "The first prescription could align accountability closer to the Welsh government. I think that the creation of a Chief Ambulance Officer housed with the government is a good way to go. The second option, which would see the health boards commission everything, will not address the underlying challenges.

"Before a policy is chosen we need a scrutiny inquiry by the health and social care committee because we need to hear from more stakeholders. This would include area managers, and people within the service which may not have had their voices heard. And it is their voices we need to hear from to improve the systemic failings within the service."