Priority Assistance

Where Check Networks stands on Priority Assistance for end users with a life-threatening medical condition, and what partners who offer it can expect from us.

Check Networks does not operate a consumer-facing Priority Assistance scheme. We are a wholesale provider and do not hold the relationship with the end user. Priority Assistance is offered to end users by the retail provider they deal with, and that provider holds the medical certification.

What Priority Assistance is

Priority Assistance is the Australian arrangement for customers where someone at the premises has a diagnosed life-threatening medical condition and depends on a working phone service. A provider that offers it gives those customers priority fault repair and connection. Telstra is required to offer Priority Assistance; other providers may choose to.

What we provide to partners

A partner who offers Priority Assistance to its own end users can ask us to enable Priority Assistance support on its account. When it is enabled:

  • The partner maintains a register of its Priority Assistance end users and the services concerned, in the partner portal. We record only the status and the service reference. We never hold the diagnosis or any clinical detail.
  • Faults on a registered service are escalated to our highest priority automatically.
  • Network outages that affect a registered service are flagged so the partner is notified regardless of its notification preferences and can act for the end user.
  • Registrations are reviewed annually. A registration that has not been re-confirmed is flagged for the partner to chase, so the register stays accurate.

Priority Assistance support is enabled per partner on request. It is not applied to accounts that have not asked for it, because holding out Priority Assistance without honouring what it carries would be worse than not offering it.

If your end user needs Priority Assistance

  • If you offer Priority Assistance, register the end user in the partner portal and make sure the service address held for the number is correct. See Emergency calls, the IPND and directory listings.
  • If you do not offer Priority Assistance, you should tell the end user that, and let them know they can obtain a Priority Assistance service from a provider that does, such as Telstra.

Contact

To enable Priority Assistance support on your account, or to ask about it: