What we’ve heard

Since the Royal Commission, we have held numerous engagement activities on a range of topics and aspects of aged care.

On this page, you can read about how what we’ve heard during these engagement activities is shaping the aged care reforms.

Thank you for being involved and working with us to improve aged care together.

  • In February 2024, in-home aged care providers participated in a series of online workshops to help refine the new Support at Home program. Read what we heard and find out our next steps.

    26 April 2024

  • Thank you for your response in the latest 2023 Aged Care Reforms Survey for older people. Your feedback will help us better inform you about aged care reforms.

    31 January 2024

  • We’ve released the feedback from public consultations on the new model for regulating aged care.

    5 January 2024

  • We held a webinar for aged care providers to hear practical advice to support quality improvement activities and achieve better outcomes for residents. Find out what we heard.

    15 December 2023

  • We have been consulting with residential, home care and retirement living providers on the future of the aged care market Read about the consultation and what we heard.

    15 December 2023

  • In August 2023, we ran a public submission process for the Aged Care Taskforce on the draft aged care funding principles. Read what we heard and find out our next steps.

    6 November 2023

  • In August and September 2023, we ran consultations on the proposed foundations of the new Aged Care Act. Read about what we heard from you, and our next steps.

    17 October 2023

  • Over 4,000 people attended our fourth webinar on the reforms to in-home aged care on 18 May 2023. Read what we heard and find out our next steps.

    22 September 2023

  • Results from our Volunteers in Aged Care survey suggests there are opportunities to better meet the needs of aged care volunteers and volunteer managers.

    15 September 2023

  • The latest results to the second Aged Care Sector Pulse Survey are in. The survey provides valuable insights into the sector’s adoption, preparedness and awareness of aged care reforms, their confidence in the reforms and their communication needs.

    14 July 2023

  • More than 1,100 people attended a webinar hosted by the department on 9 May 2023, to learn more about the details of the proposed new model for regulating aged care and receive an update on the new Aged Care Act.

    1 June 2023

  • In late 2022 we consulted widely on the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards. Read about the insights and feedback we heard through this consultation.

    1 June 2023

  • The department recently hosted a webinar to share information about the new quality indicators introduced in residential aged care on 1 April 2023.

    9 May 2023

  • In November 2022 we released a National Dementia Action Plan consultation paper to gather public feedback, which received over 1,000 responses. Read what we heard and our next steps.

    26 April 2023

  • We’ve been consulting with stakeholders across aged care to develop a regulatory model that will support the sector to deliver high quality care to older people in Australia and introduces a better way of monitoring providers.

    April 2023

  • The department hosted a webinar about Residents’ Experience Surveys to help prepare residential aged care providers for the annual 2023 Residents’ Experience Surveys. A recording of the webinar and Q&As are now available.

    19 April 2023

  • Over 500 people attended a webinar on 13 October 2022, hosted by Dementia Australia to hear more about immediate and future dementia policy in Australia.

    7 February 2023

  • In October 2022 we opened a survey on Short-Term Restorative Care, which 204 people took part in. Their responses will inform policy development for restorative care as part of the new in-home aged care program. Here’s what we heard.

    1 February 2023

  • Over 770 in-home aged care providers attended a webinar to learn about the pricing changes to Home Care Packages and ask their questions. Read what we heard.

    24 January 2023

  • In August 2022, more than 1,500 people participated in an online survey on Home Care Package administration and management charges. Read how their feedback helped inform new price caps.

    24 January 2023

  • Over 520 submissions were received on the new program for in-home aged care discussion paper and just over 2,000 people attended a webinar. Read what we heard and our next steps.

    19 January 2023

  • The department surveyed people in the aged care sector, to measure the level of awareness of the aged care reforms. Read more about the outcomes of this survey, and how we will use the findings to improve the way we communicate about the reforms.

    20 December 2022

  • 248 in-home aged care providers shared their thoughts on what they would like to see in a proposed payment platform for the future in-home aged care program. Read what we heard.

    16 December 2022

  • We received detailed submissions on draft legislation for a new Code of Conduct for Aged Care. Here is what we heard through this process.

    24 November 2022

  • In August and September 2022, the Department of Health and Aged Care undertook workshops with a small number of people with lived experience of dementia, and people caring for people with dementia to inform the National Dementia Action Plan public consultation paper.

    16 November 2022

  • More than 140 stakeholders responded to the consultation paper and over 80 participated in a forum to help inform implementation of the Aged Care On-site Pharmacist measure.

    16 November 2022

  • More than 135 people participated in consultations and co-design workshops to improve access to assistive technology and home modifications. Read a summary of these consultations.

    June to August 2022

  • Read the feedback provided by stakeholders from across the care and support sector that informed the development of the Code of Conduct for Aged Care.

    4 October 2022

  • Almost 4,000 people attended a webinar to hear about the reforms to in-home aged care, the proposed regulatory model, and the new Aged Care Act. Read about our next steps.

    30 September 2022

  • The Aged Care Quality Standards are being urgently reviewed in line with the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. In May 2021 an independent evaluation of the Aged Care Quality Standards was undertaken.

    27 September 2022

  • More than 1,700 people completed the In-Home Aged Care Service List Survey. This asked what kinds of services should be included in the new in-home aged care program starting 1 July 2024. Read the summarised findings of the survey results report.

    5 September 2022

  • Read about outcomes from the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Sector Support and Development (SSD) consultation on the activities for 2022-23

    14 July 2022

  • Read about how Older people, aged care providers and peak organisations are shaping new quality indicators for the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program (QI Program).

    27 June 2022

  • We asked the My Aged Care Screening and Assessment Workforce about the current training model and learning platform. More than 800 people provided feedback; read about what we heard.

    27 June 2022

  • Read some of the key things we’ve heard from our consultations with senior Australians, aged care stakeholders and technical experts, about what is important in the design of high quality residential aged care accommodation.

    10 June 2022

  • Masonic Care’s CEO Jackie Howard and GM Katie Cooley sat down with the Aged Care Communications team to talk about how business improvement funding transformed the experiences of residents and staff.

    23 December 2021

  • Learn how feedback given at this webinar will inform future engagement on the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) extension.

    23 December 2021

  • This summary outlines key findings from our public consultation about how to implement proposed requirements to strengthen approved aged care provider governance arrangements.

    29 March 2022

  • Over 3,500 people attended a webinar to hear more about the Support at Home Program, the status of program regulation development and upcoming consultation opportunities.

    25 March 2022

  • Read about key findings from a survey of 800 CHSP providers about their readiness for the move to payment in arrears and the one-year extension.

    23 November 2021

  • This summary outlines key findings from our consultation with stakeholders about the expansion of the Serious Incident Response Scheme from residential aged care to in-home aged care services from 1 July 2022.

    20 October 2021

  • Over 1,000 people took part in focus groups and online surveys to help evaluate the Aged Care Quality Standards in August 2021. Insights from this evaluation will inform the Quality Standards review project

    28 September 2021

  • The Department of Health’s aged care reforms webinars were attended by thousands of people, primarily aged care workers in the industry. The insights gained included how they want to be engaged going forward and how they wanted the reforms implemented.

    9 July 2021

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The Department of Health and Aged Care acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and their cultures, and to elders both past and present.