Aged Care Royal Commission Finds Small, Government Run Aged Care Homes Provide the Best Care

The Royal Commission into Australia’s aged care sector has released new research showing that small aged care homes run by the government deliver the best quality care services to residents.

Earlier this week, The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety released research presenting over 50 quality indicators about residential aged care – the most detailed profile of quality in aged care that has ever been published in Australia.

The indicators relate to topics such as:

• Clinical outcomes
• Compliance
• Complaints
• Reporting of assaults and missing residents
• Consumer experience
• Workforce levels

Approximately 57% of residential aged care homes in Australia are operated by not-for-profit organisations, 34% are operated by for-profit organisations and just 9% are operated by Government organisations.

According to the research, Government-run homes showed the best average results for 31 indicators, compared to two indicators for not-for-profit homes and one indicator for the for-profit homes. Non-profit run homes had stronger average results than for-profit homes, whereas for-profit homes had stronger average results on two indicators.

Small residential aged care homes with 1-30 beds showed the best average results for 24 indicators. Small homes like this make up just 11% of all aged care homes in Australia, whereas around 26% have 31-60 beds, 32% have 61-100 beds and 31% have over 100 beds.

This research was conducted to increase the understanding of quality in the aged care sector, demonstrating the importance making data like this publicly available so that care for older Australians can be improved.

You can view the full report on the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety website.