ESCAD system

The Department of Emergency Services will upgrade software for a new computer-aided dispatch system next week.

On Tuesday night (15 July), the Department decided to initiate an external review of the Emergency Services Computer Aided Dispatch (ESCAD) system following an outage earlier that day.

Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said the review will be conducted by independent, external experts, on the Queensland Chief Information Office (QGCIO). This work is due to start next week.

Mr Roberts said the Department will also continue working with Australian and US suppliers of system software and hardware to identify and rectify any issues relating to outages of the system.

Following the successful implementation of the new software, the Department will revisit the future roll-out of the system to the remaining Central (Rockhampton) and South-Eastern (Southport) regions.

ESCAD system is the first integrated dispatch system for the State’s ambulance and fire and rescue services.

“The roll-out of ESCAD started in March this year and more than 160,000 calls for assistance have been dealt with through the new system. However, there have been six unplanned outages in that time – the latest outage on Tuesday lasted up to 25 minutes,” Mr Roberts said.

“This is a critical system that has the potential to offer significant advances in dispatching emergency service crews.”

“I am concerned that these outages have occurred and I want to ensure all measures are taken to identify and rectify the problems we have experienced.”

“The advice to me is these outages have not affected the Triple Zero phone service or radio communications to emergency service workers and their vehicles. Communication centre staff have immediately transferred to manual back-up dispatch systems during each outage.”

“I pay tribute to the professionalism and excellence of these officers in maintaining the continuity of the emergency dispatch system.”

“No common cause has been identified for the outages.”

“Following the 1 July outage, the Department sought advice from US suppliers. Their initial advice is to upgrade the software. The Department plans to do this next Thursday morning (2am to 4am, 24 July).”

“During this upgrade, communication centre staff will revert to the manual back-up system during the software installation.”

The QGCIO provides strategic leadership, management and advice for whole-of-Government information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives.

18 July 2008
Media contact: Kirby Anderson 3247 8194