2023 Residents’ Experience Survey webinar

A group of senior Australians having a cup of tea

The department hosted a webinar on 9 March 2023 to help prepare residential aged care providers for the annual 2023 Residents’ Experience Surveys.

Speakers from the department and representatives from the external team conducting the survey (IQVIA, ACNA and HealthConsult) discussed the important work underway to allow older people living in residential aged care to share feedback on the care they receive.

What we heard

The 217 attendees participated in the participated in the live Q&A session with presenters. We received close to 30 questions covering the following key themes:

  • supports for residents with cognitive impairment
  • supports for culturally and linguistically diverse residents
  • timeframe for publishing 2023 results
  • considerations around the number of different surveys seeking resident feedback
  • future frequency of the Residents’ Experience Surveys
  • ability to cancel scheduled visits in special circumstances
  • additional staff workload
  • confidentiality around participating residents.

Thank you to everyone who attended the webinar and submitted questions.

We’ve recapped some of the questions that were asked by participants and our answers to these. You can read the Questions and Answers on our webpage here.

You can watch the recording of the webinar here.

What we’re doing

The Residents’ Experience Surveys offer older people in residential aged care the opportunity to share feedback about the quality of care they receive. The survey directly responds to the recommendation made by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety that greater weight be attached to the experience of people receiving aged care (Recommendation 94).

The external team who worked on the 2022 survey will also conduct the 2023 survey, between February and November. This team contacts each residential service to schedule the survey.

On the day, the trained survey team approach residents randomly to seek their consent to participate in the survey. Although participation is voluntary, the department has set a target of surveying at least 10 per cent of residents at each service, to enable resident responses to be de-identified to protect anonymity. Surveying a minimum percentage of residents also means the feedback is representative.

The de-identified responses are collated in a Residents’ Experience Report, which is shared with the participating service. This helps providers to see where residents consider the service is performing well, and identify opportunities to improve.

The results of the surveys also inform the service’s Star Rating. The Residents’ Experience Rating is one of four sub-category ratings and accounts for 33 per cent of a service’s Overall Star Rating. Sharing these results publicly supports transparency and assists older people to compare the quality of residential services.

You can view Star Ratings through the ‘Find a provider’ tool on the My Aged Care website.

You can find more information about Residents’ Experience Surveys on the department’s website.


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Every Australian should feel confident about accessing high quality and safe aged care, when and where they need it.

The changes mean older Australians will have greater choice and control, services that respect and meet their needs, and support to stay independent as they age.

To find out more and help design the changes, visit the Get Involved page or call 1800 318 209.

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