As a prospective aged care resident, you may have questions about what life is like in a particular aged care home. You may want to know how existing residents feel about the level and quality of care, the living environment, and how providers support their residents’ quality of life.
The results of the Resident Experience Surveys (formerly known as Consumer Experience Interviews) let you know how older Australians feel about the care and services they receive in their aged care home. The Residents’ Experience Rating allows you to easily compare the performance of aged care homes.
What are the Resident Experience Surveys?
Where can I see the results?
Why are the Resident Experience Surveys important?
Who is involved in the survey process?
The Residents’ Experience Rating
Where can I find more information?
What are the Resident Experience Surveys?
Resident Experience Surveys are conducted annually, with an independent team surveying residents in government-funded aged care homes across Australia every year.
The Australian Government has commissioned the surveys to gather important feedback from older Australians about their experiences of care, culture, food, and management in the home they live in.
Responses to the following 12 questions from the survey inform the Residents’ Experience Rating:
- Do staff treat you with respect?
- Do you feel safe here?
- Is this place well run?
- Do you get the care you need?
- Do staff know what they are doing?
- Are you encouraged to do as much as possible for yourself?
- Do staff explain things to you?
- Do you like the food here?
- Do staff follow up when you raise things with them?
- Are staff kind and caring?
- Do you have a say in your daily activities?
- Do you feel at home here?
Where can I see the results?
You can view the survey results for aged care homes using the Find a provider tool on this website. Select the profile of an aged care home you are interested in. Then click the Residents’ Experience tab.
If the home you are interested in has no survey data, it may be because:
- the survey has not been completed because the aged care home is new or operating under new ownership
- it is a very small home and the results could not be published anonymously; in this case the results are still used to generate the Residents’ Experience Rating, or
- they have been unable to participate due to a serious and unavoidable event such as a health outbreak or weather incident.
Read more about why data isn’t displayed.
Why are the Resident surveys important?
The best way to understand what an aged care home is like is to ask the people who live there. The Resident Experience Surveys provide insights into resident views and experiences of their aged care home. If you are looking for an aged care home, this information can help you understand what to ask about when you visit, to see if it's a good match for you.
The surveys seek to:
- ensure that resident voices are heard
- help older Australians and their families make informed and confident decisions about aged care services, and
- give aged care homes useful data to identify areas for improvement and further increase the quality of care they provide.
Who is involved in the survey process?
Every year, at least 10% of residents in every aged care home are surveyed by an independent team.
Aged care homes provide care for a range of residents with diverse needs, including residents with dementia. In some instances, these diverse needs may impact the way a resident responds to the survey questions. Where the resident is unable to provide their own feedback, a family member or representative might do it on their behalf.
Approximately 30,000 residents will be surveyed annually across Australia. All feedback is anonymous.
The Residents’ Experience Rating
In December 2022, the Australian Government introduced Star Ratings for aged care homes. Star Ratings provide simple information about the quality of care an aged care home delivers and how they compare to others.
Residents’ Experience is one of the 4 key areas of performance that make up the overall Star Rating. The Residents’ Experience Rating is based on an aged care home’s results in the annual Resident Experience Surveys.
The rating out of 5 stars provides a quick way for you to compare residents’ perceptions across aged care homes. Homes with 5 stars received the most positive feedback across all the questions.
How the rating is calculated
The 12 questions from the survey that inform the Residents’ Experience Rating ask for responses on a scale ranging from ’Always’ to ’Never’. Each response is given points that are multiplied by the percentage of residents who gave that particular response. These are calculated for each question. The total points earned generates their position on the rating scale.
The table below displays the different rating levels and what they mean.
| Residents' Experience Rating | What this means | |
|---|---|---|
 | Excellent | The aged care home received between 45 and 48 points on the Resident Experience Surveys. |
 | Good | The aged care home received between 41 and less than 45 points on the Resident Experience Surveys. |
 | Acceptable | The aged care home received between 36 and less than 41 points on the Resident Experience Surveys. |
 | Improvement needed | The aged care home received between 30 and less than 36 points on the Resident Experience Surveys. |
 | Significant improvement needed | The aged care home received between 12 and less than 30 points on the Resident Experience Surveys. |
Some providers may not display a Residents’ Experience Rating. You can read more about why a rating isn’t shown.
Where can I find more information?
You can learn more about the surveys on the Resident Experience Surveys website.