Diane Priestley was struggling to breathe and was starting to turn blue . She died of an aneurysm . An ambulance service has apologised to the family of a woman who died after errors by emergency call operators meant she was not classed as having a life-threatening condition . David Priestley called 999 three times and had to wait an hour for an ambulance to reach his wife Diane , who was struggling to breathe and whose tongue and lips had turned blue . An investigation has found that an ambulance should have been given a response priority of eight minutes to reach the 57-year-old at her home in Shildon , County Durham . Instead , a longer 30 minute response time was assigned - which North East Ambulance Service ( NEAS ) still failed to meet - and the grandmother-of-nine died from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm on arrival at Darlington Memorial Hospital . In a letter to Mr Priestley , NEAS admitted : 'The delay in an ambulance arriving was initially due to the call handler error which resulted in an incorrect priority . 'However , as already acknowledged , we failed to attend within the timescale for the case priority that was in place . 'This was as a result of high demand on that day for emergency responses , compounded by a lack of resources to meet that demand . ' Mr Priestley , 59 , said he remains tormented by the thought his wife might have survived had paramedics reached her sooner on the afternoon of Saturday , September 30 , last year . He described his wife of 40 years as his best friend . He added : 'It 's like they say do n't get bad on a weekend , as you wo n't get the proper treatment . 'She was my life . We did everything together . ' Following the investigation into Mrs Priestley 's death , NEAS found errors were made by the emergency operators during the first two 999 calls at 1.21pm and 1.47pm . David Priestley , 59 , said he remains tormented by the thought his wife might have survived had paramedics reached her sooner . North East Ambulance Service admitted delay was initially due to the call-handler error . Grandmother-of-nine Mrs Priestley died from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm on arrival at Darlington Memorial Hospital ( pictured ) . Mr Priestley described his wife of 40 years as his best friend . In a letter to Mr Priestley , the North East Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust said the first operator failed to enter details about his wife 's deathly colour into the system - meaning a 30 minute response priority was activated rather than eight minutes . During the next call , the second operator failed to check further about Mrs Priestley 's temperature and it was not until the third 999 call at 2.13pm that an ambulance crew was assigned - eventually arriving at 2.33pm . The trust apologised and said the call handlers had received coaching on the issues identified . Mr Priestley said he felt the apology was insincere and believes the call handlers should have been dismissed . A spokesman for NEAS said : 'We would like to offer our condolences to Mr Priestley and his family , and our sincere apology for the errors made by the ambulance service . ' She said a thorough investigation had been carried out and the case had been reported to the NHS commissioners as a serious incident . She added : 'Any actions resulting from a full investigation are at the discretion of NEAS and , in this case , we believe we have taken appropriate action . 'We are sorry to hear that Mr Priestley is unhappy with the outcome of the investigation . If he would like to contact his family liaison officer or our Patient Experience Team , we would be happy to go through his concerns with him . '
David Priestley checked 999 three times and waited an hour for ambulance . His wife Diane was struggling to breathe and was forced to wear blue . Ambulance trust admitted delay due to incorrect statements by ambulance - drivers . Mr Priestley said he is tormented by thought his wife may have drowned .