Resource library

This checklist will help registered providers and aged care workers understand best practice for complaints handling. It highlights the activities and systems required to support your complaints handling process and the resources available.

This policy provides guidance on how the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s complaints function delivers a high-quality complaints-handling service.

The Complaints about aged care services – Year in review (July 2023-June 2024) report explores the complaints we have received about aged care providers in 2023-24.

In this report, we draw attention to clear patterns and trends in the complaints made about residential care and home services respectively.

The report also covers:

This fact sheet explains how the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (Commission) works with and supports aged care workers to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people receiving aged care. It provides advice on how you can raise a concern or complaint about the safety or quality of care delivered to older people.

This fact sheet explains how the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (Commission) responds to concerns or complaints about the behaviour of an aged care worker.

All people receiving aged care have the right to a positive, safe aged care experience. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (Commission) works with providers to make sure that the people working in aged care have the right skills, experience and attitude to safeguard the health, safety and wellbeing of older people in their care. This fact sheet explains how we will support you if you have concerns or complaints about the behaviour of those people who are caring for you.

If you need help to raise or resolve concerns about the care that you or someone else is getting from an aged care provider, we can help you.

In this kit you will find a range of promotional resources, including social media posts and tiles, and a newsletter article to help you promote our latest complaints report, 'Complaints about aged care home services – Insights for people receiving care (July-December 2023)'.

This report is specifically for people receiving aged care and focuses on the experience of those using home services through Home Care Packages or through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme.

The report aims to help people to understand what to expect from their home services provider and sets out what to do if things are not going the way they want. The report includes information about aged care standards, data collected from thousands of complaints and useful tips for people receiving care.

Letter from Commissioner Janet Anderson PSM and Complaints Commissioner Louise Macleod to approved providers of residential and home services on the Commission’s new report on Complaints about Aged Care Services – Insights for providers released on 20 November 2023.

This report uses data, case studies and guided questions to identify learnings about good complaint handling that can be applied by residential and home services aged care providers in their services. The report also includes questions for boards and senior leadership to help guide complaints handling.

National Aged Care Provider Conference 2023 - Our approach to resolving complaints. Presentation by:

• Janet Anderson PSM, Commissioner
• Louise Macleod, Complaints Commissioner
• Michelle Bampton, Executive Director, Intake and Complaints Resolution

On Friday 26 August, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Ms Janet Anderson, PSM, sent a letter to approved providers regarding the SCHADS Award.

This fact sheet helps providers understand requirements to appoint an eligible advisor when the Commission issues a Notice to Agree.

Associate Professor Juanita Breen's presentation on her review of medication-related complaints received by the Commission in 2019-20.

This booklet aims to give guidance on how to:

• create an effective, resolution focused complaints system in aged care services and how to enhance existing processes
• maintain compliance with Standard 6
• encourage a positive, blame-free culture around complaints handling in aged care services by fostering an understanding of the complaints process and how it affects the people involved, and setting out the essential elements for the effective management of complaints within a service including skills, procedures and policies.

The ‘A little yarn goes a long way’ fact sheet has been developed to inform older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and their friends and family, about the support available to help them resolve concerns about aged care services, and why it’s important to raise these concerns.

Information is also available in 7 different languages including: English, Alyawarra, Arrernte, Luritja, Pitjantjatjarra, Torres Strait Creole and Warlpiri.

This fact sheet outlines how the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission supports providers to resolve complaints.

Provider resolution involves us referring complaint issues that a complainant raises with us to a provider to resolve. Where possible, we choose this approach as it is often the best way to have concerns effectively resolved.

If you are concerned about the quality of the aged care service you or the person you represent is receiving, an advocacy service may be able to help.