Mrs Stillman with her two daughters Nicole and AngelaA WIDOWER from Warminster whose wife died after waiting three hours for an ambulance to arrive is demanding sweeping changes at Wiltshire Ambulance Trust.

Bosses at the zero-rated trust have launched an inquiry into the death of 43-year-old mother-of-two, Beverley Stillman, who died on the way to hospital from blood poisoning a condition which could have been treated with intravenous antibiotics.

Husband Mark Stillman, 44, of Upper Marsh Road, said the ambulance trust had failed him and called for action.

His wife's GP had called an ambulance but it arrived too late and she died from septicaemia before reaching the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

Mr Stillman said he was devastated by the loss of his loving wife and furious at how easy it could have been to save her.

"The ambulance trust has received a zero rating two years in a row and yet nothing is being done," he said.

"If a school is failing then special measures are brought in.

"If they are going to be late then why can't they tell us? I'm an electrician and if I can't make an appointment on time I let people know.

"In my job there are no lives at risk. We feel so let down."

Mrs Stillman, who suffered from a recurring abscess, saw her local doctor last Monday night.

Dr Alan Greenwood told the family she was "very, very poorly" and called an ambulance.

He was told it would be there in less than an hour but after 90 minutes it had still not arrived. Mr Stillman redialled and staff told him the ambulance had been transferred because of two emergencies and he was next on the list.

The anxious dad said he began to panic as his wife passed in and out of consciousness.

After three hours he called 999 and around 15 minutes later two female paramedics arrived on the scene.

Mr Stillman said his wife was a wonderful mother to their daughters Angela, 12, and two-year-old Nicole.

"At the moment all we feel is grief and loss, we just miss her so much," he said.

Tim Skelton, acting chief executive of Wiltshire Ambulance Trust said he had every sympathy with the family.

"We will ensure that lessons are learnt from this tragic incident to improve the service in the future," he said.

"We are obviously very concerned as to what happened and our sympathies are with the family. The trust is carrying out a full investigation and will share the findings with the family."