Skip to content

FAQs for Services

Who will be surveyed?

The Residents’ Experience Surveys will be conducted with up to 20% of residents receiving care across every government-funded aged care home.

This amounts to approximately 37,000 surveys being conducted in 2,700 aged care homes across Australia.

When will the surveys take place?

Surveys will be held between February and October 2023.

  • In the weeks leading up to a visit, a member of the survey team will contact residential aged care homes to advise the date of the visit.
  • All surveys for a residential aged care home must be conducted by the end of October 2023 to be included as a component of the Star Rating for 2024.
  • Resident Experience Reports will be issued for each aged care home within 6 weeks of survey completion.

Which aged care homes are included?

All residential aged care homes who receive Australian Government funding are invited to participate.

How many residents will be surveyed in an aged care home?

The number of residents to be surveyed is dependent on the size of the aged care home.

  • At least 10% of residents in an aged care home will be surveyed, however this will be higher for smaller homes to ensure statistical significance of the results.
  • Residents will be randomly selected and will only be surveyed with their consent.
  • Should a resident not have capacity to participate, the survey may be conducted with a representative.

Will residential aged care homes have access to survey lists?

Residents will be randomly selected at each visit to an aged care home, ensuring all residential areas of the aged care home are represented.

  • It is essential that residents feel comfortable to answer truthfully, knowing their responses will remain anonymous. For that reason, aged care homes will not be provided with a list of residents to be surveyed.
  • Survey methodology is designed to ensure representative groups of residents are culturally diverse and include residents with special needs.
  • The right of anonymity of residents who are invited to participate in Residents’ Experience Surveys should be respected by the staff at the aged care home.

What happens if an aged care home chooses not to participate?

If an aged care home declines to participate in the Residents’ Experience Surveys on initial contact or does not facilitate access to survey residents, the home will be removed from the participation list and no further contact made. Non-participation will negatively impact the aged care home’s Residents’ Experience and Overall Star Rating published on the My Aged Care website by the Department of Health and Aged Care.

What information do aged care homes receive about the surveys?

Aggregated, de-identified information from the surveys conducted at a given aged care home will be provided to each home in a Resident Experience Report. The reports will include information provided from residents, on the quality of care and services they receive in their residential aged care homes. This information will provide rich insights into the quality of care the aged care homes are delivering and potential areas for improvement from the perspective of their residents.

Who will conduct the surveys?

Residents’ Experience Surveys will be undertaken by an independent third-party workforce who will use a simple set of questions to ask older Australians about their experience living in residential aged care home. The Commission developed the questions, with the help of La Trobe University’s Lincoln Centre for Research on Ageing.

The survey team are employed and trained by ACNA, a not-for-profit specialist provider of assessment services. All survey team members:

  • are highly trained and have prior experience working with older Australians
  • will be representative of the cultural diversity of the residents
  • will have Police checks and any Working with Vulnerable People checks as required
  • will be vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza.

Is the Residents’ Experience Surveys the same as Consumer Experience Interviews?

The Residents’ Experience Surveys was formerly known as the Consumer Experience Interviews. The feedbacks from last year’s surveys have been taken into account, and the following changes have been implemented:

  • Renamed to Residents’ Experience Surveys, to better align the terminology across information published under the Star Ratings.
  • Improved communications and engagement with aged care homes.
  • Scheduled survey visits at least 4 weeks in advance to ensure aged care homes have sufficient time to inform residents and families.
  • No requirement for aged care home to provide data files prior to visit.
  • Refined randomisation sampling method to improve efficiency of conducting surveys and minimise impact on residents.
  • Survey question 12 has been modified from ‘Do you feel at home here?’ to ‘How likely are you to recommend this residential aged care home to someone?’

What about COVID-19 safety?

The Residents’ Experience Surveys team acknowledge the profound impact of COVID-19 on aged care residents and services and understand that safety is paramount. If required by the aged care home or by public health orders, full personal protective equipment will be worn by team members during site visits and resident surveys. If COVID-19 public health advice precludes resident surveys from being conducted in person, they will either be deferred until entry is permitted or conducted by telephone and/or videoconference, if appropriate.

Will there be an opportunity to provide feedback on the Residents’ Experience Surveys?

  • A small sample of aged care home staff and residents will be invited to participate in an evaluation of the Residents’ Experience Surveys for quality improvement purposes.
  • If you would like to provide feedback or have any concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us at connect@residentexperiencesurveys.com.au or via 1300 151 537.

How will aged care homes receive their Residents’ Experience Report?

  • The outcomes from the Residents’ Experience Surveys are being developed into a Resident Experience Report, which will be distributed individually to each aged care home via email within 6 weeks of survey completion. In preparation for this the Department had requested all organisation administrators to ensure that the details for their respective aged care home are current and up to date on the My Aged Care Provider portal.

Is there a review process if an aged care home disagrees with its Residents’ Experience Report

Participating aged care homes will be given the opportunity to review the Residents’ Experience Report results before they are published on the My Aged Care Website. However, since the report is based on resident feedback, residential aged care homes cannot disagree with the feedback and results. If an aged care home genuinely believes that there is a mistake with the report, they can contact the Department via email at: accer@health.gov.au The Department will engage with IQVIA to investigate if there is a mistake in the data source or a mistake in the IT System which calculates the Star Rating.
Participating aged care homes will be given the opportunity to review the Residents’ Experience Report results before they are published on the My Aged Care Website. However, since the report is based on resident feedback, residential aged care homes cannot disagree with the feedback and results. If an aged care home genuinely believes that there is a mistake with the report, they can contact the Department via email at: accer@health.gov.au. The Department will engage with IQVIA to investigate if there is a mistake in the data source or a mistake in the IT System which calculates the Star Rating

Who should I contact if I have further questions, feedback or complaints about the Residents’ Experience Surveys?

  • We are ready to receive your feedback by telephone or in writing. Please contact us to speak to one of our team members who will listen and take the details of your feedback, or send us an email with the details of your question, feedback or complaint.