Oversight of the aged care system

Reviews

We help to improve the aged care system through in-depth investigations and independent advice to the Australian Government and parliament.

To complete a review, we:

• examine systemic issues or topics that affect the government's regulation, administration, or funding of aged care services and the delivery of those services
• publish a report
• make recommendations for change to the government and parliament.

We table our reports in parliament and publish them on the resources page.

Oversight of complaints management

We also oversee and review how complaints about aged care are managed by:

• government agencies
• approved providers
• other aged care bodies funded or regulated by the Australian Government.

We look at how they handle complaints and recommend ways to improve their complaints processes. This is to ensure complaints management processes in aged care are:

• fit for purpose
• effective, efficient, and accessible. 

The Inspector-General does not have the power to investigate individual complaints about aged care. The agency or body the complaint is about is responsible in the first instance. Individuals may also make a complaint to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.

Find out how to make a complaint on the My Aged Care website. 

If you need support, please contact the Older Persons Advocacy Network. 

Ongoing monitoring

We are an intelligence-led organisation. This means we use our information-gathering powers, along with information from our stakeholders and other reviews and reports, to monitor decisions, programs, operations, and funding. This allows us to:

• understand what is happening
• identify historical or emerging trends or patterns
• gather insights.

We then use this to:

• identify issues
• analyse the health of the system
• interpret and report findings to the public, government, and parliament.

Reports

We produce a range of reports, such as:

• review reports – these include our findings and recommendations following an investigation into a systemic issue
• progress reports – these provide updates on the implementation of royal commission recommendations
• corporate reports – these include our annual reports and corporate plans
• other reports – these are standalone reports on other topics, such performance of other government bodies, the health of aged care data, and other matters relating to the aged care system.

We publish our reports on the resources page. The Minister for Aged Care also tables copies in parliament.