Ambos deny grieving wife's claim

The NSW Ambulance Service denies paramedics became lost on their way to treat an ill man who eventually died at his home.

Velma McFadden said on Friday her husband of 54 years died before the ambulance arrived at their property on the outskirts of the village of Cullen Bullen, north of Lithgow, on September 28.

Mrs McFadden said a man waited at the local pub 2km from her home to give directions, but she received a call advising the ambulance was lost and did not have a navigation system.

Her husband Kevin, who had suffered a heart attack, died before the paramedics arrived.

"He was alive when I started CPR," Mrs McFadden told Macquarie Radio on Friday.

"I was told they haven't got GPS in their ambulances.

"That they would have them up here in a couple of years time in the western area."

The ambulance service confirmed the vehicle did not have a GPS, but said it had a street directory and the crew did not lose their way.

The service said paramedics made the 28km journey in 18 minutes, with a 24-minute response from the time Mrs McFadden's call was answered.

"There was no delay in the first ambulance arriving on the scene. The ambulance did not get lost," it said in a statement.

"Sadly, when the first paramedics from Lithgow arrived on scene, the patient, Mr McFadden, was deceased."

The airing of Mrs McFadden's claim comes on the heels of an apology on Thursday by NSW Premier Nathan Rees over two triple-zero blunders involving issues with locations.

In one instance, an operator hung up on a man because he could not provide a street address, while another triple zero caller was told the major Riverina city of Wagga Wagga wasn't in the computer mapping system.

Mr Rees told parliament the NSW Ambulance Service had launched an investigation into both instances, with the report to be forwarded to Health Minister Carmel Tebbutt.

"On behalf of the ambulance service, I extend my apologises to the callers and the patients involved in these regrettable incidents," Mr Rees said on Thursday.

"I understand that one of the operators has been stood down while investigations are under way."

The incidents follow an inquest earlier this year into Sydney schoolboy David Iredale's death in the Blue Mountains.

The 17-year-old became separated from his two classmates on Mount Solitary during a three-day trek in 2006.

The inquest found three triple-zero operators bungled a series of calls for help before he died - because they did not have a street address.