It is important to get tested for COVID-19 if you have any symptoms or have visited a known case location. If you aren’t able to get to a testing location, you may be eligible to have the test done at home through the Victorian Government’s Call-to-Test service.
The Call-to-Test service is available to:
- people with an injury, chronic health issue, or frailty affecting mobility
- people with moderate to severe physical or psychosocial disability
- people with moderate to severe mental health or behavioural issues not otherwise classified as a psychosocial disability
- carers for a person with moderate to severe disability.
To find out if you are eligible for the Call-to-Test service, Call the coronavirus (COVID-19) hotline on 1800 675 398 and select option 9.
Want to know more about how the Call-to-Test service works? You might like to read through the frequently asked questions and answers that have been developed by the Department of Health and Human Services.
One of our staff recently used the Call-to-Test service and has written about their experience below
“The Victorian Government was encouraging anyone who had been in Brisbane on or after 2 January 2021 to get tested for COVID-19 and isolate at home until they had received a negative result. As I was in Brisbane on 2 January, I knew I needed to go ahead and get tested.
As a person who is totally blind, getting to a testing location in an area I am not familiar with would have been challenging and problematic. In addition to the degree of difficulty involved, I was also concerned about potentially exposing others to the virus if I was found to be infectious. In order to get to a testing location, I would need to have used public transport as I live alone and do not have any friends or family who could had driven me. Given I cannot visually assess my surroundings, it is also impossible for me to maintain 1.5 metre distancing when I am moving around the community.
On Saturday 9 January at approximately 10am, I called the Victorian Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398 and pressed the number 9 on the keypad. I was read a list of eligibility criteria for the Call to Test service and was directed to press the number 1 on the keypad if I felt I met the criteria.
After keying in the number 1, I was immediately transferred to a nurse who asked some initial screening questions such as whether I had symptoms and why I was getting tested. She also took down my address and phone number and informed me that this information would be passed on to a GP who would contact me within 48 hours to arrange an in-home visit.
I received a call from a GP at approximately 4:30pm that same day. The call went to voicemail as I had not been near my phone at the time. The voicemail message indicated that the GP would arrange for a nurse to come out and visit me within the next 48 hours and that I would receive a phone call from them before they arrived at my home.
At around midday the next day, I received a phone call from the nurses who were coming to perform my test to let me know that they would be arriving in 10-15 minutes. The two nurses both arrived within this time frame and I let them up to my apartment. They stood outside my front door while they asked me to clarify my personal details, including date of birth and phone number. They also got all of their personal protective equipment ready while still outside.
The nurses asked whether I would prefer to come outside my apartment to do the test or whether I would rather have it done inside. I opted for the test to be done inside my apartment, so one nurse came in while the other waited just outside my front door. The test took about a minute to complete and the nurse was very respectful and professional. She told me that I would receive my test results within 48-hours.
At around 3pm on Monday 11 January, I received a text message from the Call to Test service informing me that my test had come back negative. The nurses who performed the test told me I would have received a direct phone call had the test come back positive.”
