"A green priority is one where the ambulance is dispatched non-urgently when an ambulance is available. St John responds to all calls as soon as possible, but on average an ambulance response for a green priority incident takes 28 minutes."
Mrs Kinder told the phone operator her husband had no feeling in his legs and might have some type of back injury, Mr Kinder said.
"He told her there'll be a crew on the way ... we waited and he rung back 40 minutes later to say that there had been nothing dispatched."
Both Mr and Mrs Kinder asked them to send a rescue helicopter after being told no ambulances were available yet, but the operator told them it "wasn't his call" to dispatch one.
Mr Brooks said a helicopter was not immediately dispatched because the incident was not initially assessed as being serious or life-threatening.
"However, our review has established that the patient was more seriously injured than we thought and that there are important lessons that can be learnt from this incident."
At 1.02pm a "clinically experienced paramedic" called the Kinders back to carry out a further assessment.
"As this assessment was taking place arrangements to source an ambulance in the Wanganui region continued."
The paramedic called them back at 1.33pm to check on Mr Kinder's condition and "update him on the status of the ambulance", Mr Brooks said.
"They were advised by the patient at that time to cancel the ambulance because he was being transported to hospital by car."
Mr Kinder, who said it took another half an hour just to get into the car, was admitted to hospital at 3.25pm, and was then flown to Middlemore hospital for surgery. His pelvis was fractured in two places and he was bleeding internally.
"They gave us a blood transfusion and stabilised us and flew us to Middlemore ... they plated and bolted my pelvis together."
He was told by a doctor his injuries could have been life-threatening.
Mr Kinder was brought back to Whanganui Hospital and discharged on Tuesday. He said something needed to be done about how emergencies in rural areas were handled, "because someone will die if they don't".
St John apologised to the family following a review.
"[Preliminary enquiries] have revealed that the level of care and service the patient received fell short of our standards," Mr Brooks said. "Our initial findings are that the assessment of the initial 111 call was appropriate, however the subsequent telephone clinical assessment was not as comprehensive as it could have been, and as a result we did not recognise how badly injured the patient was.
"This contributed to a delay in an ambulance being dispatched."
Mr Brooks said St John took concerns seriously and investigated and addressed them to ensure they provided the best possible level of care. They have communicated their findings with the Kinders and will be sharing them with the staff concerned.