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 Residents’ Experience Survey (formerly known as Consumer Experience Interview) let you know how older people in Australia 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 is the Residents' Experience Survey?
Where can I see the results?
Why is the Residents' Experience Survey important?
Who is involved in the survey process?
The Residents’ Experience rating
Where can I find more information?
What is the Residents' Experience Survey?
The Residents’ Experience Survey is conducted annually, with an independent third-party survey team surveying residents in government-funded aged care homes across Australia every year.
The Australian Government has commissioned the survey to gather important feedback from older people about their experiences of care, food, and management in the home they live in.
Responses to the following 12 questions from the survey inform the Residents’ Experience rating available on the My Aged Care website:
- 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?
- How likely are you to recommend this residential aged care home to someone?
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- it is a very small home and the results could not be published anonymously; in this case the results are still used to generate the Residents’ Experience rating, or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 is the Residents' Experience survey important?
The best way to understand what an aged care home is like, is to ask the people who live there. The Residents' Experience Survey provides 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 survey seeks to:
- ensure that resident voices are heard,
- help older people 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 20 per cent of older people across all aged care homes in Australia are surveyed about their experiences. Through the sampling methodology at least 10 per cent of residents at each individual residential aged care home are randomly selected to be surveyed by an independent third-party survey 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 be approached to provide feedback on their behalf.
Approximately 37,000 randomly selected residents are surveyed annually across Australia. All feedback is anonymous and confidential.
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 Residents’ Experience Survey and contributes to 33 per cent of a home’s Overall Star Rating.
The Residents’ Experience 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 survey questions that inform the Residents’ Experience rating ask for responses on a scale ranging from ’Always’ to ’Never’.
Points are allocated for each question based on the response that each resident provides. The table below displays the points that each response receives.
| Response | Points |
|---|---|
| Never | 1 |
| Some of the time | 2 |
| Most of the time | 3 |
| Always | 4 |
The points are multiplied by the percentage of residents who gave that particular response. These are calculated for each question. The total points for all 12 questions will determine a home’s Residents’ Experience rating.
The table below displays the different rating levels, what they mean and the number of homes nationwide that have received each rating.
| Residents' Experience rating | What this means | How many homes in Australia currently have this rating? | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Excellent | The aged care home received between 45 and 48 points on the Residents' Experience Survey. | 5% |
 | Good | The aged care home received between 41 and less than 45 points on the Residents' Experience Survey. | 42% |
 | Acceptable | The aged care home received between 36 and less than 41 points on the Residents' Experience Survey. | 50% |
 | Improvement needed | The aged care home received between 30 and less than 36 points on the Residents' Experience Survey. | 3% |
 | Significant improvement needed | The aged care home received between 12 and less than 30 points on the Residents' Experience Survey. | 0% |
* Percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding.
Some providers may not display a Residents’ Experience rating. You can read more about why a rating isn’t shown.
Feedback, complaints, and improvements
Along with the annual Residents’ Experience Survey, aged care homes also separately report on positive feedback, complaints, and suggestions for improvement made by their residents. This information is published to help older people, their families, and carers choose an aged care home that is right for them. The information can also support conversations with providers about their approach to feedback and complaints and how they use this input.
Aged care homes should regularly seek input and feedback to help inform continuous improvements for individual residents and the whole organisation.
Each aged care home is required to report on:
- the 3 most common kinds of positive feedback received about each home during the reporting period
- the 3 most common kinds of complaints received about each home during the reporting period
- the 3 main kinds of improvements made in relation to the quality of the home.
This information is published in the Residents’ Experience tab of the aged care home’s profile page on Find a provider.
Where can I find more information?
You can learn more about the surveys on the Residents' Experience Survey website.