The ambulance is the glue which holds together the NHS’s most important services, getting seriously-ill patients to the right place as quickly as possible.

So it is worrying that the South Central Ambulance Service, which serves the county is trying to cut £6m this year from its £131m budget through “efficiency savings”.

It points out its response times are among the best in England.

Latest figures, for March, show 82 per cent of the most serious calls were reached within eight minutes.

While this meets the Government’s target of 75 per cent, the only acceptable performance for most taxpayers would be 100 per cent.

The figures mean an estimated 160 people waited longer than eight minutes and we are concerned this figure could rise if frontline services are affected by the service’s efficiency drive.

This is particularly important in outlying areas of Oxfordshire, the most rural county in the region.

An investigation by the Oxford Mail in Febuary found the emergency responses within eight minutes fell to just 30 per cent in Bampton, Burford, Carterton and Brize Norton, for example.

The 75 per cent target was only met in 10 of Oxfordshire’s postcode areas.

The trust must now be open about where these savings will be made – and the risk they pose to such a vital service.