Priority Assistance

Priority Assistance is designed to help customers where they, or someone in their household, or someone in their care, has a diagnosed life-threatening medical condition, or whose life may be at risk without access to a working telephone service. With Priority Assistance, you’ll receive prioritised service connection and fault repair for your Telstra telephone line if it has a fault, and you can’t access another working phone.

To be eligible for Priority Assistance on your Telstra landline service, you or someone living at your home must have a diagnosed life-threatening medical condition. This could be temporary, permanent or an unexpected medical condition which is life threatening. 

Some examples of eligible medical conditions or circumstances include:

• At high risk of respiratory emergencies e.g. severe asthma
• At high risk of cardiovascular emergencies e.g. unstable angina
• At risk of life-threatening hypoglycaemia or epilepsy e.g. unstable insulin-dependent diabetes
• At high risk of obstetric and neonatal emergencies e.g. high risk pregnancy
• At high-risk with mental health disorders
• Technology-dependent who are at high risk e.g. on a home respirator or with tracheostomies

You're also eligible for Priority Assistance if you have other dependent medical conditions and live alone without support or in a remote location.

• You can download a paper application form available online or pick up in store. Once completed you can email or post the completed form to us.
• You can contact us on 13 22 00 and say “Priority Assistance” to speak to our dedicated Priority Assistance Team who can send you an application form in the post.
• You can apply online for Priority Assistance.

Once you have submitted your application online, we’ll start to process your application, and you’ll hear back from us within 5 business days with an update.

• If a doctor/medical practitioner describes the medical condition as temporary, you’ll need to reapply every three years.
• If your medical condition is permanent, your Priority Assistance will remain on your home phone service with Telstra. 
   

You won’t need to reapply for Priority Assistance unless you

• cancel your home phone service with Telstra
• transfer the ownership of your home phone service to another person or
• move your home phone service to another provider.

Check the Priority Assist Phone easy guide (PDF, 1.79MB) for instructions on how to set up and use your Priority Assist phone. If you’re still having technical issues, please call us on 13 22 00.

A home phone service with Telstra at your place of residence. 

If your home phone service is with Telstra and you are eligible for Priority Assistance, we’ll give you information on how to stay connected on our nbn and Opticomm access networks.

The information you’ve provided on our Priority Assistance application form (PDF, 132KB), except information relating to your/the patient’s medical condition, is collected by Telstra in the ordinary course of providing the services you need.

Details about the privacy protections Telstra gives to your personal information, which Telstra collects in the ordinary course, are set out in Telstra’s Privacy Statement. That statement is also provided to new customers before or shortly after receiving services from Telstra.

Anyone can fill in the application on behalf of the applicant, however the patient and a Medical Practitioner is required to sign the form. If the patient is under 18, the legal guardian will be required to sign on their behalf. 

We’ll provide you with an update within 5 working days from when we receive your application form. Or, you can call us on 13 22 00 and say, “Priority Assistance”; our dedicated Priority Assistance Team will be able to give you an update on your application.

We aim to repair Priority Assistance customers’ faults within 24 to 48 hours, depending on whether the address is in an urban, rural or remote location. If we’re unable to attend for any reason, we’ll provide the customer with an interim voice service until we’re able to get the connection working again.

Your Priority Assistance service will be transferred to your new address, whether you retain the same phone number or not.