Star ratings show improved levels of aged care

The quality of quality of age care homes across Australia has improved since the introduction of Aged Care Star Ratings.

Offering access to previously unavailable data, star ratings provide a comprehensive view of aged care home performance. This helps older people, their families and carers compare like for like services and encourages providers to embrace a culture of continuous improvement.

Since they were first implemented in December 2022, these star ratings reveal that 54% of aged care homes are now delivering good or excellent care (four or five stars). In addition, aged care homes that need improvement have decreased. Figures show that 54 homes (2%) are now receiving one and two stars, which is a decrease of 152 since December 2022.

“The biggest improvement reflected in star ratings over the past year is the experience of residents. Residents are reporting the quality of care they are receiving is getting better, with 95% of aged care homes now delivering acceptable, good or excellent care,” said Anika Wells, Minister for Aged Care.

“Prior to star ratings, residential aged care providers didn’t have a way to benchmark and monitor their performance or improvement over time. Now they do and it’s proving valuable for their management teams.”

The Aged and Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA) has welcomed the data.

“This is extremely positive news and aged care providers should be congratulated,” said Tom Symondson, CEO at ACCPA.

“We commend providers for their efforts to improve their performance under challenging circumstances. These results demonstrate our sector’s commitment to delivering the highest quality care to older Australians. We thank the Minister for her recognition of this effort.

“The new figures show 98% of aged care homes are now rated three stars or above — a remarkable achievement.

“Improved star ratings mean improved lives for older Australians and that’s what providers are striving to achieve, every day of the year.

“The publication of star ratings is an important milestone for aged care sector reform in reaching greater transparency.”

Symondson said financial sustainability remains aged care’s number one challenge.

“With over half of residential aged care providers still losing money and the financial position of home and community care providers trending down, getting the funding right will be essential to maintain these current high standards and increasing our capacity to support the growing number of older people over coming years.”

Star ratings draw on data from Residents’ Experience Survey results, regulatory decisions of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, Care Minutes and the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program.

Bringing this data together via a complex algorithm, Star Ratings paints the full picture of an aged care home’s quality and benchmarks what quality care looks like. This information is reflected in an easy-to-follow format across four sub-category ratings: Residents’ Experience, Compliance, Staffing and Quality Measures, which is then calculated as an Overall Star Rating.

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