More than half of ambulances responding to 999 calls in Powys failed to reach patients within set targets, new figures have revealed.

Freezing temperatures and snowfall have been blamed for the dramatic drop in ambulance hitting response targets.

New figures for December show a substantial fall in the number of Powys ambulances arriving on scene within the eight-minute target.

Statistics released by the Assembly Government show that just 49.7 per cent of life-threatening emergency calls in Powys were reached within the target time, which is well below the national target target of 65 per cent.

It comes just a day after First Minister Carwyn Jones said response times were improving when he was challenged about a pensioner with a broken ankle who waited 10 hours for an ambulance.

But Montgomeryshire health watchdog John Howard has blamed the drop in response times on the recent bad weather.

He said: “There has been a lot of problems over the last few months because of the bad weather.

“I realise that the response times have fallen again but I’m hoping to see improvements.

“The Welsh Assembly is trying harder than it ever has to improve ambulance services and I’m pleased to see them working hard to rectify the problems.”

Peter Black, the Welsh Lib Dem shadow minister for health, said more still needed to be done to improve the service.

He said December statistics for the whole of Wales showed just 59 per cent of ambulances arrived at the scene within eight minutes.

It is the first time since August last year that the target, introduced in April 2008, was missed.