Aged care complaints FAQs

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (the Commission) is the national regulator of Australian Government-funded aged care services. We work with providers, workers and older people to protect the wellbeing and rights of people receiving aged care.

We’re responsible for:

• safeguarding and upholding the rights of older people under the Statement of Rights
• registering providers to deliver aged care
• working with and educating the aged care sector and older people about what the Commission does
• resolving complaints about aged care providers, workers and responsible persons
• auditing providers against the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards
• monitoring and investigating registered providers, aged care workers and responsible persons
• responding to notifications of reportable incidents
• regulating aged care workers, volunteers, responsible persons and providers under the Aged Care Code of Conduct.

You can tell us about concerns you have with the quality of care from any aged care providers the Australian Government funds, including:

• residential aged care
• Support at Home program
• Commonwealth Home Support Programme
• Specialist Aged Care Programs, including the Transition Care Program and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Programme.

We can help with complaints about a providers’ responsibilities under the Aged Care Act 2024 (Aged Care Act) or their funding agreement with the Australian Government. We aim to resolve your complaint and reach a meaningful result that improves the quality and safety of your care, or the care of someone you know.

We can help you with complaints about:

• a provider, worker or responsible person not meeting their obligations under the Aged Care Act
• a provider not acting in line with the Statement of Rights. For example, not respecting older people’s right to:
• be treated with dignity and respect
• make a complaint
• receive care that is safe, high quality, meets their needs and helps them to live their best life.
• personal care, such as services that help someone to shower, take medication, eat or move around
• communication, for example how a provider, worker or responsible person shares information with you and responds to your questions or complaints
• staff roles, for example how workers do their job and care for you
• your living environment, for example safety, security and cleaning
• some fees and charges. 

We carefully and fairly assess the facts and evidence we have for each complaint. 

There are some complaints and concerns we aren’t able to help you with. For example, we can’t:

• help with complaints about aged care services that are not funded by government
• give advice on the availability of care or services in your local area
• give advice on who should make financial, legal or health decisions on behalf of an older person
• give legal advice or advice about what to include in your care agreement
• give clinical advice about what treatment you should receive
• determine the cause of death (this is the Coroner’s role). 

In some situations, even if you make a complaint about an issue we can look at, we may not be able to do anything. For example, if the issue is part of legal proceedings or a coronial inquiry, or the person receiving care doesn’t want us to look at the complaint.

If we can’t help you, we can refer your complaint to an organisation that may be able to help. For example, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, professional registration boards or other complaints bodies. 

You can contact the Commission by phone on 1800 951 822, through an online complaint form, or in writing. You can find more information in Make a complaint.

The Commission’s services are free.

When you first contact us to make a complaint, we'll: 

• let you know that we received your complaint within 3 business days
• listen to your concerns
• ask you for information and assess any risks
• discuss what you want to happen
• explain what we do and how we can help
• take immediate action if an older person is at serious risk of harm. 

If you need an interpreter, you can ask us to arrange one when you call. Or, you can contact one of these services and ask them to help you contact us: 

• Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) – 131 450
• Aboriginal Interpreter Service (AIS) – 1800 334 944
• Aboriginal Interpreting Western Australia – 08 9192 3981. 

You can download Translated information for people receiving aged care poster. It has information in different languages about how to contact us using an interpreter. 

If you have a hearing or speech impairment, you can contact us through the National Relay Service: 

• TTY users: call 1800 555 677 then ask for our number 1800 951 822
• Speak and Listen users: call 1800 555 727 then ask for our number 1800 951 822
• Internet relay users: connect to the National Relay Service and enter 1800 951 822. 

We handle personal information in line with the Aged Care Act, the Privacy Act 1998 and Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). The APPs cover how we collect, store, use and disclose (share) personal information.

We use personal information collected in a complaint process mainly to help us resolve the complaint. Unless the complaint is anonymous or confidential, we may disclose personal information to another party involved in the complaint if needed to resolve it, or to explain why a complaint was finalised.

See How we handle personal information from complaints for more information.

Yes, we can accept and review information related to the complaint that the person making the complaint and the provider give us. This includes things like:

• letters
• emails
• text messages
• documents
• policies
• nursing files
• audio recordings
• videos
• photos.

If you provide photos, videos or audio recordings, we’ll need to confirm that any featured people give their consent.

It will depend on what your concern is, and who it’s about. You may have more than one option. Here are some ideas:

1. Go to My Aged Care. This may have information or options that will answer your concern.
2. Talk to the provider and ask how they can address your complaint. They must have their own complaints management system.
3. Talk to an advocacy service. An advocate may be able to support you when you talk with the provider about your concern. You can contact the following support services for advocacy support and help:
   • the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) can provide free, confidential, and independent support
   • The Elder Care Support program is designed to support older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their families to understand, navigate and access the aged care services they are entitled to. Use this list of providers to find your local Elder Care Support organisation.

Contact us to discuss your concern about an Australian Government-funded aged care service at home or in an aged care home. We can talk to you about your options.

Often, the best and quickest way to get concerns resolved is to raise them directly with the provider, if you feel comfortable doing that.

It’s safe to speak up. A provider, worker or responsible person can’t punish you or treat you differently for making a complaint.

Before speaking to your provider:

• try writing down your concerns
• remember to focus on the facts
• include important information, such as names, dates and locations
• be clear about what you want to happen from the complaint
• ask for help. If you’re concerned, you can ask a friend, family member or supporter to help you write your complaint.

You can also arrange for help from a supporter if you don’t feel comfortable raising a concern on your own.

If you don’t want to discuss your concern with the provider, or the provider hasn’t been able to resolve your complaint, please contact us on 1800 951 822. We can talk with you about your options for making a complaint or giving feedback, and how the Aged Care Act 2024 (Aged Care Act) protects you.  

Anyone can make a complaint, including:

• people receiving aged care
• family, friends, carers and supporters of people who receive aged care
• aged care workers and volunteers
• health and medical professionals. 

Yes. If you're making a complaint for someone else, let them know. They have a right to be involved.

Complaints help improve the quality and safety of aged care services. The safety and wellbeing of people receiving aged care services is important and protected by law.

The Aged Care Act includes a . This gives you clear rights when using aged care. These rights put you and your needs first. The Statement of Rights includes the right to:

• independence, autonomy (ability to make your own decisions), empowerment and freedom of choice
• equitable (equal) access
• quality and safe funded aged care services
• respect for privacy and information
• person-centred communication and ability to raise issues without reprisal (consequences)
• advocates, significant persons and social connections.

Providers must act in line with the Statement of Rights. You can find out more about the new rights-based Aged Care Act on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.

Older people have a right to make decisions about their own lives, including decisions about their care. They also have a right to have support to make those decisions. 

A registered supporter is someone an older person trusts – like a family member or friend – who helps them make and communicate their own decisions about their care, including speaking to providers, aged care assessors, and us. They can ask for, access, and receive information about the older person they support.

Registered supporters don’t have the authority to make decisions for the older person. Their role is to:

• support the older person’s personal, cultural and social wellbeing
• help the older person make and communicate their own decisions
• support the older person’s ability to make their own decisions. 

Not every older person will want or need a registered supporter. Some will feel they are already supported by their family, carers and other significant people in their lives to make their own decisions.

Supporters can be registered by: 

• contacting My Aged Care, an aged care assessor or an Aged Care Specialist Officer
• completing the Registration of a Supporter form online or on a My Aged Care account. 

You can find more about the role of a registered supporter on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing website.

Yes, please call us on 1800 951 822 and we can discuss your situation. Our friendly staff will listen to your needs and tell you your options so you can decide what works best for you.

If you’re concerned about the care you (or someone else) are receiving from an aged care provider, worker or responsible person, but you don’t want to make a complaint, you can raise your concern with us as feedback. Giving feedback is less formal than a making a complaint. We usually won’t involve you in the process of addressing your feedback. You can find out more on Give feedback.

Aged care providers should make you feel safe and supported to raise a concern. They can’t punish you or treat you differently for making a complaint. However, we recognise it’s not always easy to raise a concern.

If you don’t feel comfortable talking to the provider, you can speak with us. We can help you to resolve your concern with the provider. You can also Make a complaint to us. It’s best to make your complaint openly. This means you include your name and contact details. You can also complain anonymously or confidentially. However, these options may reduce what we’re able to do to resolve your complaint.

Let us know if you’re worried about the consequences of giving us information. There are whistleblower protections in the Aged Care Act that protect people sharing information with us where they believe the law has been broken.

We can talk about these protections and the differences between open, anonymous and confidential complaints when you contact us.

We provide a service that follows the Australian Public Service Values and Code of Conduct. This includes being:

• impartial
• committed to service
• accountable
• respectful
• ethical
• aware of our role of stewardship. This means taking responsibility for and working towards building our knowledge and abilities to meet public need and achieve our long-term goals.

We do our work in a fair, balanced and effective way.

When you contact us, we’ll:

• listen to you
• explain our processes, including what we can and can’t do
• be polite
• be fair and objective in the decisions we make
• explain our decisions clearly and follow up with you after we make a decision
• follow the law
• be transparent
• protect your privacy
• provide referral advice, for example to independent advocates or support organisations.

Our Service Charter explains what you can expect when you contact us or we contact you.

Unless you have made an anonymous complaint, we’ll contact you to tell you we received the complaint. We’ll collect as much information as possible about your complaint. This helps us to understand your concerns and the result you’re looking for. We’ll discuss your options and explain our complaints process.

We’ll assess the complaint individually and look at:

• safety, dignity, rights and the wishes of the person receiving aged care
• the quality of care and services the provider is delivering
• how the provider responds to the complaint.

We’ll then decide the best way and how quickly to start resolving your complaint.

When you make a complaint, you can expect that we will:

• handle your personal information appropriately
• tell you about the process involve you in decisions that affect you
• treat you with dignity and respect
• tell you about your reconsideration rights.

We look at complaints no matter what a person’s cultural background, disability, gender, sex and gender identity, sexual orientation or any other status is.

If we can look into your concern, we’ll explain how we resolve complaints and what we might achieve. If we’re not able to look into your concern, we’ll try to refer you to someone who can.

1. Collect and triage – When you contact us to make a complaint, we’ll listen and ask questions to collect the information we need to work on the complaint. We use information about the risk of harm to the older person to prioritise (triage) the complaint. This allows us to take action in proportion to the risk to the safety, health and wellbeing of the older person.
2. Assess – Our complaints officers analyse the information we collect, to understand the type and the situation of the complaint. We’ll speak with the older person, the person making the complaint and the provider to get their opinions and let them know how we plan to resolve the complaint.
3. Resolve – We’ll work with you and the provider to fix the problem. We’ll inform everyone throughout the process. We’ll help the provider fix what went wrong, rebuild trust and prevent future problems.
4. Finalise – We’ll check if the older person is happy with the outcome. We’ll work with everyone involved to finalise the complaint.
5. Evaluate – We’ll look at our actions to identify ways we can keep improving.

Some complaints can be resolved quickly, sometimes in a few weeks, through a couple of phone calls. More complex complaints can include:

• gathering evidence
• visiting the service
• meetings
• reviewing reports
• negotiations over several months.

We aim to respond to your complaint as quickly as possible. Complaints need to be finalised within 90 days, unless there are reasons why it needs to take longer. We try to finalise 80% of the complaints we receive within 60 days. However, our response time will vary, as each matter is different. The timing will depend on the nature and complexity of your complaint. We’ll keep you informed of the progress of your complaint and when we expect to resolve it.

If you’re not happy with our service or how we dealt with your complaint, you can complain to us. We want to improve our service and welcome your opinions. You can provide feedback at any stage of the process – good or bad.

You can raise your issue with your complaints officer by calling us on 1800 951 822. If you’re not comfortable doing that or are unhappy after speaking to them, please ask to speak to their manager. If your concern still isn’t resolved, you can make a complaint about us.

When your complaint is finalised, you’ll receive a satisfaction survey. We encourage you to fill it out so we can understand what we did well and how we can improve.

You can also make a complaint to the Commonwealth Ombudsman. Their role is to make sure we are fair and follow proper processes.

• A complaint can involve people other than the older person, the person making the complaint and the provider, worker or responsible person.
• We’ll regularly update other people who are affected by a complaint. We’ll tell them about the progress of the complaint. If we think our decision could negatively affect someone, we'll speak to them and think about their opinions as we resolve the complaint. 

Yes. If you’re not happy with a decision we made about your complaint, you can ask us to reconsider it. Reconsiderations can help us make sure we achieve the best outcome for the person receiving aged care that the complaint is for, and for others.

People making complaints, providers and workers can ask for a reconsideration of our decision once a complaint is finalised. This can be about our decision to take no further action on a complaint or to end a resolution process. If you want us to reconsider the decision you need to ask us to do that within 42 days of receiving the decision letter. Your application must include the reasons for your request. You can ask us to reconsider our decision by calling us on1800 951 822 or by email to complaintsreviews@agedcarequality.gov.au.

Some decisions cannot be reconsidered. These include decisions where:

• the person who made the complaint withdraws their complaint
• the complaint was anonymous
• the complaint was frivolous, vexatious or not raised in good faith
• we have already reconsidered the decision.

You can find out more in our Asking for reconsideration of a complaint decision fact sheet.

If you’re worried about the treatment or care an older person is receiving, it’s important to raise your concern. Aged care providers must provide a safe environment for people receiving aged care. Start by talking to your provider or manager, if you feel that you can. This can often solve problems quickly and directly, which can build trust and openness.

If this isn’t possible, you don’t feel comfortable or talking to your provider hasn’t helped, we can help you. We’ll listen to your concerns and we’ll support you to have them addressed. We can support you and raise your concerns with your provider to make sure that they meet their obligations.

If you’re a registered health practitioner or employ a registered health practitioner, you can contact us to raise a concern or complaint. You should also refer to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) for mandatory (required) reporting obligations.

You can find more information in our Your voice in improving aged care fact sheet.

An important way we learn about things going wrong in aged care is when people share information with us.  

If people don’t share their concerns, issues and wrongdoing may not be reported and may go unnoticed.   

When you share information, it helps: 

• to uphold the rights of older people receiving care 
• to protect and enhance the safety, health, wellbeing and quality of life for older people
• to encourage providers to be transparent (open and honest) and accountable
• us to identify and respond to risks to older people receiving care. 

To make sure people are confident to speak up, there are whistleblower protections in the Aged Care Act 2024. They protect people sharing information with us where they believe the law has been broken. 

Where people share information which indicates someone else (a provider or person) may not be meeting their responsibilities under aged care law this is known as a qualifying disclosure. 

Anyone who makes a qualifying disclosure can seek whistleblower protections. This is why we treat all disclosures as if they do qualify for protection. 

Anyone who shares information with us can choose to be anonymous or have their information remain confidential. 

For more information, see Whistleblower disclosures - information for workers.

We respect your rights as an aged care worker and we deal with all complaints fairly and without bias. If we receive information about you that raises questions or concerns, we’ll:

• let you know
• help you to understand the issues raised
• let you ask questions and give us any other information
• give you the chance to respond before we decide what to do.

If you’re not happy with our decision or with the process, you can ask for a reconsideration. You can find out more on Reconsideration rights.

As an aged care worker, you have the most contact with people receiving care. You must be respectful, kind and follow the behaviours in the Aged Care Code of Conduct (Code).

The Code describes how providers, responsible persons and workers (including volunteers) must behave and treat people receiving aged care. It helps make sure that people can have confidence and trust in the quality and safety of the aged care they receive.

We’ll help you to put the needs of the people you care for first. We’ll make sure that your employer supports you in your role and provides you with the right training. When we become aware of problems, we’ll intervene in the right way at the right time. You can find out more about how we regulate aged care in our Regulatory Strategy placemat for aged care workers.

• Make it easy to complain. Tell older people and their supporters how they can complain when they first use your service. Remind them often.
• Empower older people to understand and use their right to complain without fear of punishment. Make sure they know they can contact us if your service or a worker is not acting in line with their rights.
• Create a culture that welcomes feedback and sees complaints as a chance to improve. Complaints are part of providing a good service. It’s how you respond that matters.
• Listen carefully to the person making the complaint. Understand their concerns.
• Acknowledge what went wrong and how the older person was affected. Apologise. This can help you resolve matters quickly and improve your relationship with the people involved.
• Ask what the person making the complaint wants to happen and write it down. Let them know if what they want is possible.
• Make sure a senior staff member is in charge of managing and responding to complaints.
• Involve the older person in resolving the complaint. Speak with their supporters if they have them.
• Start work to resolve the complaint straight away.
• Be clear about what you’ll do to resolve the complaint and when you’ll do it. Let them know how long this could take.
• Give the older person and their supporters regular updates, even if you don’t have much to report.
• At the end of the process, openly and honestly explain what happened and what you did to resolve the complaint. Let the older person and their supporters know how you’ll stop the issue happening again. This is a key part of open disclosure.
• Ask the older person and their supporters for feedback on how you handled the complaint.

We do our work in a fair, balanced and effective way. Our Service Charter explains what you can expect when we contact you.

If we receive a complaint about you, we’ll contact you to:

• share the concerns
• help you understand the issues
• let you ask questions and give us any other information
• ask for your response before we decide what to do next.

We may then decide to reply to a complaint using provider-led resolution. This means we refer a complaint to the provider to resolve. We choose provider-led resolution to resolve a complaint if:

• the issues don’t have any significant risk to the health or safety of the older person
• the provider is willing to take part in the resolution process
• the person making the complaint have given us permission to.

A complaints officer will work with you. They will:

• ask you to agree (in an agreed timeframe) to take part in the process and provide a written report to us on how you resolved the complaint. We will give you a template you can choose to use to report back to us. The timeframe will depend on the number, complexity and urgency of the issues in the complaint
• discuss expectations about your role and actions
• write to you and the person making the complaint confirming the issues and that ‘provider-led resolution’ is how we have chosen to resolve the complaint.

• Follow your complaints management policy.
• Work out who should be involved in resolving the complaint.
• Listen to the person making the complaint to identify their concerns and expected outcomes, and acknowledge these.
• Involve the older person and the person making the complaint in the process.
• Engage all the people involved (such as personal care worker, chef or cleaner) to consider different ways to resolve the issues.
• Be clear about what you’ll do to resolve the concerns, and when.
• Consider whether your feedback and complaints system encourages people to give feedback.
• Make sure the report to the Commission includes:
  • an outline of the issues
  • a summary of the actions you’ve taken
  • an explanation of the outcomes reached
  • documents that support the outcomes reached.

The time for providers to respond to a request for information about a complaint depends on the level of risk to the older person or people receiving care. This means, sometimes we’ll need information quickly so that we can assess people’s immediate safety.

We’re aware of the administrative burden this can place on providers, but we have a responsibility to keep older people receiving aged care safe and well. We’re happy to consider extensions for more complex complaints on a case-by-case basis.

Complaints are a key source of information. They help us to:

• understand what’s important to older people accessing aged care services
• know the risks people receiving care face
• understand where providers need to improve
• inform our regulatory activities
• work out the provider’s supervision status based on our assessment of the level of risk to older people in their care
• educate providers about their obligations
• identify training and development opportunities
• report on trends and offer insights to the sector, highlighting opportunities for self-assessment and continuous improvement.

Advocacy is the process of standing alongside a person who is disadvantaged and speaking out on their behalf in a way that represents the best interests of that person.

An advocate is someone who can listen to your concerns, give you information and speak up for you if you want them to. They work under your direction to represent your wishes.

An advocate is someone who can:

• support you in making decisions that affect your quality of life
• give you information about your rights and responsibilities
• discuss your options for taking action
• support you when you raise an issue with us or the provider
• support you at any stage of the complaints process.

An advocate will always ask your permission before acting.

The Australian Government funds a free aged care advocacy service for people receiving aged care and their representatives. To access a free advocate, contact the Aged Care Advocacy Line on 1800 700 600 or visit the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) website.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing partnered with the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) to establish the Elder Care Support program. The program is designed to support older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their families to understand, navigate and access the aged care services they are entitled to.

Use this list of providers to find your local Elder Care Support organisation. With your permission, we can call a listed advocacy agency for you to explain your concerns and arrange for the advocate to contact you.

If you need an interpreter, you can ask us to arrange one when you call. Or you can contact one of these services and ask them to help contact us on 1800 951 822:

• Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) – 131 450
• Aboriginal Interpreter Service (AIS) – 1800 334 944
• Aboriginal Interpreting Western Australia – 08 9192 3981. 

 You can download Translated information for people receiving aged care poster. It has information in different languages about how to contact us using an interpreter. 

If you have a hearing or speech impairment, you can contact us through the National Relay Service: 

• TTY users: call 1800 555 677 then ask for our number 1800 951 822
• Speak and Listen users: call 1800 555 727 then ask for our number 1800 951 822
• Internet relay users: connect to the National Relay Service and enter 1800 951 822. 

There are brochures, booklets, posters and a range of factsheets available. You can view, download and order these using our online order form.

We have translated some resources into community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.

Languages for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds include:

• Arabic
• Armenian
• Chinese
• Croatian
• Dutch
• French
• German
• Greek
• Hindi
• Hungarian
• Italian
• Korean
• Latvian
• Macedonian
• Maltese
• Polish
• Russian
• Serbian
• Spanish
• Tagalog
• Turkish
• Ukrainian
• Vietnamese

Languages for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people include:

• Torres Strait Islander Creole
• Arrernte
• Alyawarra
• Luritja
• Pitjantjatjara
• Walpiri

If you need an interpreter, you can phone the free Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) on 131 450 and ask them to call us on 1800 951 822.

You can make a complaint by contacting the Commission. Aged care providers must provide a safe environment for people receiving aged care, including more vulnerable residents in residential aged care. We can examine a complaint about a provider’s obligations under the Aged Care Act 2024 or their funding agreement.

Aged care law seeks to protect vulnerable people receiving aged care, not to restrict their sexual freedoms. Residents have the right to choose and have personal, intimate and sexual relationships with others without fear, criticism or restriction. This includes residents with a mental or cognitive impairment.