The South Wales Argus has won a major victory in its campaign demanding a shake-up in Gwent’s ambulance service.

It comes after the Newport-based evening paper revealed a series of blunders by the under-fire service in which 999 emergency calls went unanswered and towns were left without any ambulance cover for days on end.

Responding to a series of hard-hitting exclusives produced by the Argus, the Wales Ambulance Trust said it would be taking urgent steps to plug glaring gaps in its emergency cover.

It announced a review of its controversial “ambulance deployment plan” which had been vigorously opposed by many ambulance crews as being “unworkable” and leaving towns exposed.

The Trust has agreed to assign two designated ambulances to Monmouth and Chepstow – the two towns worst hit by recent emergency call fiascos.

The Trust also issued an apology for one 999 blunder in which a 10-month-old boy was left waiting for an ambulance for more than half an hour after being savaged at home by his pet dog.

The ambulance failed to arrive after two separate emergency calls, despite the boy’s home being less than a mile from the local ambulance station in Monmouth.

The boy was eventually rushed to hospital by his family where he had 30 stitches put in horrific head wounds.

The Trust admitted two ambulance control staff had been disciplined over the matter.

But the savaged boy incident was just the latest in a series of failures by the ambulance service revealed by the Argus.

Other emergency calls which went unanswered included: