Quality Assurance
On this page you will find interesting quality assurance information about the Office of the Aged Care Commissioner. The Office is committed to continuous improvement and accountability and has established a comprehensive quality assurance program which includes: Satisfaction Surveys, Performance Indicators, Focus Groups, Case Reviews and an online feedback mechanism.
The link to the survey results provides information about the satisfaction surveys undertaken as part of feedback to this Office. Once the design of survey forms is finalised both appellants and complainants are to be invited to complete satisfaction surveys. A method of accurately collating and analysing the survey forms is currently being developed and this page is designed to provide information all results.
The second link on this page points to performance indicator information for the Office. While the performance indicators have been developed and agreed, the method of accurately reporting these indicators is currently being developed.
These reports will be available in PDF format shortly.
Satisfaction Survey Statistics
A primary goal of government is to ensure the provision of appropriate and high quality services to the community. It is well recognised, however, that success is also generated when consumer satisfaction is maximised and the trust of the wider community is established. It is therefore important that governments know what consumers expect, how well those expectations are being met, what problems consumers encounter and how much those problems might impact on consumer satisfaction. Finally, it is vital that changes be made in procedures and processes in order to rectify problems identified and so improve services.
Satisfaction Surveys can point the way to understanding the root causes of consumer problems and help an organisation target core processes that need improvement. Satisfaction survey forms have been developed to elicit relevant information from people who have had dealings with this Office. Satisfaction Surveys, together with a pre-paid addressed envelope, are forwarded to the parties when the examination of a complaint or decision is finalised.
A database is currently being developed to enable the collation, analysis and accurate reporting of the data.
Performance Indicators
There is continuing debate as to how performance indicators can meet the demands of quality improvement at the program level whilst concurrently serving as reliable and valid measures for external accountability. Nonetheless, it is important to recognise these can be dual and complementary functions and therefore seek to identify performance indicators that will withstand public scrutiny and effectively meet the interests of all stakeholders.
In themselves, performance indicators do not show whether a program's performance is satisfactory. Nor can one indicator fully reflect what is happening within a program but must be complimented by other indicators and compared with a base line figure - for example, with a target, a national standard, with the performance of other components of the same program or with the performance of the program at a different point in time.
However, where performance indicators are used as part of a quality assurance program to regularly review activity, they provide not only a useful picture of what is happening in a program over time, but can also show how the issues and trends, which the program has been set up to address, can also change over time.
It is extremely important for this Office to reinforce a culture of continuous improvement and accountability. To that end, a reasonable and basic set of indicators has been developed which we believe have sufficient evidence to support their probable utility. This evidence includes knowledge that the premise underpinning the indicator development is sound, that data collection is feasible and that the indicators have practical utility. Performance indicators are dynamic, iterative and attuned to changing systems, advances in knowledge and staff experience. Therefore, the current listing of performance indicators is neither comprehensive nor absolute in nature and the indicators will be monitored and modified where necessary.