A radio outage that left ambulance officers in Bendigo reliant on mobile phones to communicate from the field on October 25 was symptomatic of a "desperate" need for updated equipment, according to the Victorian Ambulance Union (VAU).
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VAU general secretary Danny Hill said that from about 8am until 3pm two channels of Ambulance Victoria's RAVNET radio system dropped out.
This left paramedics in the Loddon Mallee and Hume regions without a system of communication with the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA).
While call-taking and ambulance despatch was unaffected, crews reporting back from the field - for instance issuing warnings about dangers or requesting extra equipment - had to communicate by phone, Mr Hill said.
"There was literally no [radio] communication between the crews and the people at ESTA," he said.
The outage was acknowledged by the authority on Thursday, October 26.
"On Wednesday, ESTA had an intermittent radio interruption, affecting two of its regional channels in the Bendigo and Shepparton area used to communicate between ambulance dispatchers and paramedic crews. This has now been resolved," it said.
"Mobile phones were being used to communicate to in-field crews, and there was no impact to dispatch delivery of services to the Victorian community."
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While the replacement of AV's "old analogue" radio system in country Victoria is reportedly due to start next year, it has been a long time coming, Mr Hill said.
"Our concern is we've been waiting some time for the rural system to be upgraded to a digital one, which is what the metropolitan [service] has had in place for about 15 years.
"The rural areas have needed them desperately as well."
Country ambos were also waiting for "mobile data units" to be rolled out, he said.
Nationals leader and member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh described the situation as "not good enough".
"To keep people safe our ambulance system needs up-to-date technology. The fact the government is planning to update it sometime in the future isn't good enough," he said.
"It needs to be done now so people can have confidence they can get an ambulance when they need one."
The outage - which according to Mr Hall had "no negative patient outcomes but definitely posed a safety risk for crews" - came less than a week after professional firefighters in Bendigo raised safety concerns about ageing equipment, particularly vehicles.
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