AMBULANCE services in the Cotswolds may be restored to their former glory if changes suggested this week by the new head of Great Western Ambulance Service are realised.

Anthony Marsh, the interim chief executive of the trust, says he wants to bring in around 200 new paramedics and control-centre staff as well as more ambulances to help hit response time targets.

And to free up the cash he is planning a cull on middle-management positions and money spent on hiring outside consultants.

Management wages at the troubled trust, which last month was revealed to be bottom of Government performance league tables, have risen 50 percent to more than £5million since it was created two years ago.

In August a Healthcare Commission investigation found the trust had made ‘serious failures’ after the Standard revealed it took 42 minutes for an ambulance to arrive at the scene of an accident in Cirencester in which student Rebecca Wedd suffered fatal injuries.

Mr Marsh, who took over following the departure of Tim Lynch last month, said he had identified ways of restructuring staffing levels at the Chippenham headquarters and hopes to free up cash to bring in the required frontline staff.

He added that he has support from the Strategic Health Authority and the Primary Care Trust and intends to release details in the next fortnight.

Mr Marsh is currently spending three or four days a week running the trust as he is also chief executive of West Midlands Ambulance Service. He expects to be working at GWAS for around six months until a permanent chief executive is appointed.

Civic leaders in the Cotswolds welcomed the news this week and are looking forward to seeing the changes happen.

Sheila Jeffery, chairman of Cotswold District Council, said: "You don’t like to hear of anybody being made redundant but it does sound like common sense.

"We need to improve the response times and that can only be done at the grass roots level."

James Gray, MP for North Wiltshire, said: "The ambulance trust has been something of a shambles for quite a long time.

"It’s refreshing to see a new chief executive come in and say we need more ambulances, more paramedics and less bureaucrats.

"I welcome Mr Marsh’s remarks and I just hope that he is successful in implementing them."