LANCASHIRE Ambulance Service has beaten its own record and improved for the second year running on its top performing response times.

The service has reinforced its position as one of the top performing services in the country, with figures well above national targets.

The service attended 78 per cent of life threatening calls within eight minutes compared with 77.3 per cent last year - both well above the national target of 75 per cent.

And it responded to 97 per cent of 999 calls within 19 minutes, compared to 98.2 per cent last year, when the national target is 95 per cent.

The key targets must be met by all Emergency Ambulance Services, despite a growing number of calls.

Last year Lancashire Ambulance Service received 125,000 calls during the year, up five per cent.

Early figures for this year showed an increase on top of that of 12 per cent. .

The news that the service had improved on its own record was welcomed by chief executive David Hill.

He said: "I am extremely proud of the efforts of everyone who has played a part in delivering this success to benefit patients.

"I would like to stress that it is not just about speed of response, it is also about the quality of service provided to individual patients.

"It is a team effort throughout, but I pay particular tribute to the staff in the control room and the frontline crews. They work under enormous pressure, day in, day out."