A triple-0 outage early today has been described by a union official as “complete chaos”.
The outage, which was confirmed by Victoria Police, lasted for more than an hour, during which time Telstra operators could answer calls but could not redirect them to the appropriate triple-0 call centre.
The national Telstra emergency triple-0 service was malfunctioning between 3.30am and 4:45am, Triple Zero Victoria confirmed.
It forced Telstra operators to email referrals, some of which were not received by Triple Zero Victoria operators until after 7am.
Patient delay
Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill told ABC Radio Melbourne Mornings it was complete chaos.
He said a paramedic crew was delayed responding to a Melbourne patient experiencing cardiac arrest.
“I’ve been told there was a delay getting through but I don’t know how long,” he said.
“Sadly, it wasn’t a successful resuscitation effort and the patient passed away.”
Mr Hill said the deceased person’s family received a phone call about an hour later asking if they still required an ambulance.
“[Crews] were dispatched to cases without having a lot of detail, because they couldn’t get that detail through, or it was sent via email,” he said.
“In many cases it would get to the crew after the crew actually arrived on the scene.”
Government to investigate
A spokesperson for Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland said the government was making urgent inquiries.
“Any reports of Australians being unable to reach emergency services when they need it are deeply concerning,” the spokesperson said.
“The federal government has urgently sought information from Telstra … to understand the full extent and impact of the outage.”
Telstra is the emergency call provider which directs calls to emergency service organisations around the country.
No specialist training
Mr Hill said it was “distressing for everyone”, and speaking generally, errors in call-taking and dispatch were potentially fatal.
“When these things happen you’ve really robbed a lot of people of the chance to survive,” he said.
“Exactly what might have happened if there wasn’t a delay you don’t know.”
Mr Hill said it was unclear how many cases were affected by the outage.
“It could be many dozens, if not hundreds of cases,” he said.
He said Telstra operators, who were emailing details to triple-0 workers, were not equipped to take medical information from patients.
“It would have led to delays, and they’re not trained to elicit the right information from the caller,” Mr Hill said.
‘Everyone did the best they could’
Communication Workers Union representative Sue Riley, whose organisation represents triple-0 call-takers, said Telstra was able to document the phone number of individual callers, but not always their address.
“Verification of where the caller is is extremely important,” she said.
Ms Riley said the incident began at 3.30am, and at 4.15am Telstra decided to send “bulk emails”.
“Everyone did the best they could in all of the circumstances,” she said.
Victoria Police confirmed it was aware of an outage affecting calls to triple-0 on March 1.
A spokesperson said the system was “out for a short time and is now resolved”.
Telstra, Triple Zero Victoria, and Ambulance Victoria have been approached for comment.
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