Providers and consumers will get another chance to share their experiences of using My Aged Care and highlight areas for improvement, the Department of Health has announced.
The second round of independent evaluation of user experience of My Aged Care’s call centre and online platform will again be carried out by external research consultancy AMR.
The Department of Health said more than 2,600 surveys would be distributed starting this week to a selection of aged care providers, assessors, health professionals, clients and peak bodies who have used My Aged Care in the last year.
“The quantitative approach has been designed to achieve a representative sample of each stakeholder group through setting quotas on location, position, activity and other factors,” a spokesperson for the Australian Government Department of Health told Australian Ageing Agenda.
The department is calling on those invited to participate to complete the survey and give their feedback on where My Aged Care was performing well and where services could be improved.
As reported by AAA, the first wave of research gathered stakeholder experiences and perceptions of My Aged Care and the aged care system in early 2016 (read that story here).
It found much more favourable results for consumers than aged care providers, a majority of whom reported the introduction of My Aged Care had been detrimental to their workload.
Following the evaluation, the department worked closely with the contact centre to review and implement improvements, specifically related to management of calls, screening and referrals to assessment and service, the department’s spokesperson said.
It also held five co-design workshops in four locations with service providers, consumer representatives, assessors and health professionals, who identified and prioritised key areas for improvements to My Aged Care.
The departmental spokesperson said this feedback informed the accelerated design process being used to rapidly define improvements to My Aged Care with direct input from users. (See here for more information on this process).
Fieldwork for this second wave of research is due to start this week with a summary of findings expected to be published in mid-2017, the departmental spokesperson said.
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