AMBULANCE chiefs have promised an inquiry after a pensioner was forced to wait 16 hours on his bedroom floor for an ambulance.

His wife is now calling for the system to be changed so that people waiting for an ambulance are kept abreast of any delays, and to help the ambulance service prioritise non-emergency call-outs.

Medical experts had decided the 75-year-old man from Highcliffe would have to be admitted to St Ann's Hospital in Poole.

They told the man and his wife an ambulance with a trolley would call at 3pm, as the man had limited mobility.

Despite repeated phone calls and repeated assurances an ambulance would arrive shortly, no ambulance turned up.

By 3am, the man's 73-year-old wife was sitting on the floor with her husband, trying to feed him warmed rice.

In desperation she phoned 999 at 7.30am and an ambulance with the correct trolley arrived.

His wife has lodged a complaint with the Patients Advice and Liaison Service of The South West Ambulance Service NHS Trust and is still waiting for a meeting to explain what went wrong.

A Trust spokesman said the woman had been unhappy with the explanation so an investigating team had been formed.

They will go through all available records to discover why she and her husband did not receive the level of support they needed.

"As soon as this investigation is complete the outcome will be reported to her as a matter of priority."

The spokesman said they would look at how they operated as part of that investigation.