Aged Care Star Ratings can help you support your loved ones to research and compare aged care homes
Moving into an aged care home is a big decision. It is often a time of stress, high emotion and uncertainty. It can also be a challenging decision for the family, friends and carers of the person moving.
Where do I start?
There may be signs that your loved one may benefit from moving into an aged care home, such as if they are struggling to move around independently, having problems communicating, thinking, planning and remembering or at risk of falls and injuries.
If your loved one is considering residential aged care and needs your help to look at options, you can use Star Ratings to help them research and compare the quality of care, safety and services of aged care homes. You can start by visiting health.gov.au/StarRatings and clicking through to the ‘Find a Provider’ tool to search for homes by location. You can filter by things that are important to them, like languages spoken or faith.
What are Star Ratings?
Star Ratings is informed by data collected from a range of sources including, from residents themselves, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (the Commission) and aged care providers. Each aged care home receives an Overall Star Rating and a rating against four sub-categories:
- Residents’ Experience: Every year, an independent survey team conducts a face-to-face survey of a sample of around 20 per cent of residents in aged care homes. They are asked a series of questions about how the staff treat them, the food standards, and whether they feel safe, independent and a sense of belonging.
- Compliance: Aged care providers have responsibilities which they must comply with. An aged care home’s rating is based on whether it meets its obligations for delivery of safe and quality services and supports.
- Staffing: This category measures the amount of care time residents receive from nurses and care workers. It indicates if the aged care home has enough staff to meet its residents’ care needs.
- Quality measures: This indicator measures five crucial areas of care, including:
- falls and major injury
- unplanned weight loss
- pressure injuries
- medication management
- the use of restrictive practices such as physical restraint.
The scores are used to produce an Overall Star Rating for every aged care home. You can see a home’s Star Rating when you look it up using the ‘Find a provider’ tool on the My Aged Care website.
How is the Overall Star Rating calculated?
33% Residents’ Experience
30% Compliance
22% Staffing
15% Quality Measures
What do the stars mean?
Aged care homes receive an Overall Star Rating between 1 and 5 stars:
- 1 star: significant improvement needed
- 2 stars: improvement needed
- 3 stars: an acceptable quality of care
- 4 stars: a good quality of care
- 5 stars: an excellent quality of care.
How often are ratings updated?
Star Ratings are updated regularly. The Overall Star Rating is updated automatically as the data for each sub-category rating is updated. This happens at various times, for example:
- Residents’ Experience ratings are updated when annual surveys are completed
- Compliance ratings are updated daily
- Staffing ratings are updated quarterly
- Quality Measures ratings are updated quarterly.
The Star Rating you see on the My Aged Care website is based on the most recent available data.
How is Star Ratings helpful to me and my loved ones?
Helping an older person make decisions around aged care is never easy. Star Ratings is a simple way to research and compare the quality of care, safety and services of aged care homes in the early stages of planning.
- The benefits of Star Ratings include that it:
- gives transparent information on the quality, safety and services of aged care homes nationally
- helps you research and compare aged care homes based on ratings in each sub-category as well as specialised services in each home
- provides a nationally consistent benchmark for checking and comparing care
- makes regular updates so you can always access current information.
Where can I find Star Ratings?
Star Ratings appear when you search for aged care homes using the ‘Find a provider’ tool on the My Aged Care website.
To find out more about Star Ratings and to start researching and comparing homes, visit health.gov.au/StarRatings/translated.
For more information or support, visit the My Aged Care website or phone 1800 200 422 (My Aged Care’s free phone call line).
For translating and interpreting services, call 131 450 and ask for My Aged Care on 1800 200 422.
