Star Ratings for residential aged care

Resources

Access resources to help you use Star Ratings, including fact sheets and instructional animations. You’ll also find stories from people who have used Star Ratings to research and compare aged care homes in their area.

Videos

Advertising materials 

Watch advertising from the Star Ratings campaign.  
00:00:15

Looking for an aged care home?

Star Ratings helps you compare aged care homes across a range of areas, including quality of care, safety and services.

Compare at health.gov.au/starratings

Authorised by the Australian Government, Canberra.
00:00:30

Looking for an aged care home?

Star Ratings have been created to help you compare age care homes across a range of areas, including quality of care, safety and services, plus feedback from residents themselves.

Ratings are regularly updated to help you make informed decisions.

Start comparing at health.gov.au/starratings

Authorised by the Australian Government Canberra.

How to use Star Ratings animation

Watch step-by-step instructions on how to research and compare aged care homes in your area.
00:02:27

Star Ratings helps you research and compare the quality of care, safety and services of aged care homes across Australia.

Each residential aged care home is given an Overall Star Rating, as well as ratings in 4 sub-categories: 

  • Residents’ Experience
  • Compliance
  • Staffing
  • and Quality Measures.

Residents’ Experience is based on anonymous feedback  from people living in aged care homes – around 20% of residents are surveyed each year.

Compliance is how well the home is meeting its obligations to provide safe, quality care and services.

Staffing measure is the amount of care provided to residents by nurses and care workers.

Quality Measures looks at areas of health that are important indicators of care quality, like pressure injuries, unplanned weight loss, falls, the use of restrictive practices, such as physical restraint, and how medicines are used.

But what do the stars mean?

  • A 1-star rating means significant improvement is needed.
  • A 2-star rating means improvement is needed.
  • 3 stars means an acceptable quality of care.
  • 4 stars means a good quality of care.
  • 5 stars is the highest rating, reflecting an excellent quality of care.

Ratings are updated regularly based on the most recent available data.

To start using Star Ratings to research and compare aged care homes, visit health.gov.au/StarRatings and click on the 'Find a provider' tool.

This will take you to the My Aged Care website.

You can search for an aged care home provider by name or location.

Select ‘Aged care homes’ in the ‘Care type’ drop-down menu and select your preferred room type.

You can narrow your search based on things that are important to you, such as specialised care, health support and language.

You can also compare up to 3 different aged care homes based on their Star Ratings.

Using Star Ratings is a good first step in the early stages of aged care planning to shortlist homes that could meet your needs.

You can also contact each home directly for more information on yours or your loved one’s specific needs and to check availability.

For more information about Star Ratings for residential aged care homes visit health.gov.au/StarRatings

Star Ratings case study – Bettina

Watch how Star Ratings can help older people and their support networks plan for residential aged care.
00:01:01

We looked for residential aged care because Mum had a fall and had to have more care than I could give her. Mum was very keen to look for a place that she felt like was home. It had to be somewhere she was comfortable, the place where she could keep living her life. 

I was looking for something that wasn't like an international clinical hotel. Yes.

When I looked at the Star Ratings website, I really liked that the Star Rating had that resident rating because I wanted to see how they felt about living there and whether they felt that they belonged, it was their home. So, that made all the difference.

Evidence-based is what everybody needs these days.

I would definitely use the Star Ratings to give Mum a good chance to make the best choice, and I wanted Mum to feel at home.

I wasn't well when I came, but I'm bouncing along now.

Resources for older people and their support networks

Resources for stakeholders

Resources for healthcare professionals, aged care providers and community organisations to help them talk to older people and their support networks about Star Ratings. 

  • Star Ratings – Stakeholder Kit

    Fact sheet
    This resource is designed to support organisations to share information about Star Ratings with older people and their support networks.

  • Star Ratings – Health Professionals Kit

    Fact sheet
    This resource is designed to support healthcare professionals to share information about Star Ratings with patients and their support networks.

  • Star Ratings campaign poster

    Poster
    Download and display this poster about how Star Ratings helps compare quality of care, safety and services across aged care homes.

  • Star Ratings campaign postcard

    Poster
    Download and display this postcard about how Star Ratings helps compare quality of care, safety and services across aged care homes.

  • Star Ratings social media tiles

    Digital image
    Download this set of 7 square images for your social media posts about Star Ratings for residential aged care.

  • Star Ratings images

    Collection
    Download and display these images to help you communicate about Star Ratings.

Resources for the media

Helpful resources for media organisations to help them create content about Star Ratings. 

  • Star Ratings campaign – Media backgrounder

    Fact sheet
    This campaign will be supported by information and resources to help older people and their support networks to access Star Ratings and commence their aged care journey.
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