The Residents’ Experience Survey (RES) program is a national initiative designed to capture the voices of people living in residential aged care and to better understand their experiences of care. Delivered across almost all aged care homes in Australia, the program provides an independent, evidence-based view of resident experience and contributes to national reporting, including the Aged Care Star Ratings.
Through large-scale engagement with residents, families, providers and the broader sector, the RES program plays a critical role in improving transparency, strengthening accountability, and driving continuous quality improvement across aged care.
HealthQ Consulting was engaged to deliver a comprehensive program evaluation of the RES program, applying our proven health management consulting methodology to assess performance, impact and future potential across the aged care system.
Our approach combined rigorous analytics with deep sector engagement to generate actionable insights that matter to residents, providers and policymakers alike.
We implemented a structured, mixed-methods evaluation framework, integrating large-scale quantitative data with rich qualitative insights drawn directly from lived experience. This included:
• Analysis of national RES datasets and outcome trends over time
• Consultation with residents, families, aged care providers and system-level stakeholders
• In-depth case studies within aged care homes across diverse geographic and service contexts
• Review of program design, operational processes, governance structures and reporting outputs
This end-to-end methodology enabled HealthQ to develop a holistic, evidence-based understanding of the program, firmly grounded in both data and real-world experience.
A defining feature of the evaluation was the scale and depth of engagement. HealthQ worked with over 650 stakeholders, ensuring diverse perspectives were captured, from frontline staff and aged care leaders through to residents and advocacy groups. This reflects our commitment to consumer-centred program evaluation, where lived experience is central to understanding service quality and outcomes.
Throughout the process, HealthQ applied a robust evaluation framework focused on effectiveness, impact, efficiency and sustainability, ensuring the assessment not only evaluated current performance but identified the foundations required for long-term success.
Importantly, the evaluation was delivered with a strong focus on translating insights into strategic value, supporting our client to better leverage resident experience data to strengthen accountability, inform policy, and drive continuous improvement across the aged care sector.
The evaluation demonstrated that the RES program was delivering meaningful impact across the aged care system. It has strengthened transparency and accountability, supported measurable improvements in service quality, and enabled a nationally consistent approach to capturing resident experience at scale.
Key achievements included:
• Strong and sustained engagement across the sector
• Improvements in resident experience scores over time
• Increased inclusion of diverse population groups
• Evidence of service-level improvements in response to resident feedback
The findings reflect a program that is maturing, adaptive, and increasingly embedded as a critical component of aged care quality and performance monitoring.
From the moment I read the report, I was struck by the exceptional quality of the writing and analysis. It is a highly professional piece of work. It is insightful, well-structured, and remarkably accessible, making complex information easy to engage with and act on.
We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Traditional Custodians of the Country on which we live, work and play and honour their connection to Country and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.
