An electrical outage occurred at Ambulance Tasmania’s State Communication Centre in Hobart on Sunday morning.
The centre is responsible for all call handling and dispatch of ambulance resources, and operations are now running as normal.
The power at the centre was reduced between 00:40am and 03:30am, and a backup system was used. However for a period of approximately 35 minutes there was an outage of the IT and communications functions.
All triple zero calls received by the centre were answered. Two calls were received during this time.
The calls were processed and medical advice given immediately, however the dispatch may have been delayed by up to five minutes.
One call was for a fatal cardiac arrest. There is no information to indicate that the outcome would have been any different if the crew had arrived without delay.
Ambulance Tasmania will commission an independent review of the centre’s operations and responses during this outage period.
The cause of the outage is under immediate investigation. At this stage a major electrical switchboard is the focus of the investigation.
The Communications Centre was fully staffed at the time.
I want to assure Tasmanians that every measure is being taken to ensure we fully understand the reasons for the outage and ensure it doesn't happen again.