Aged care services touch the lives of substantial – and increasing – numbers of people. Yet the capacity of service systems to meet older people’s needs, and to do so at standards acceptable to the Australian community, remains under question, subject to several major inquiries in recent years including the current Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

Recognising that the community expects aged care services to deliver supports which go beyond basic physical care, this project explored:

• the ways current aged care arrangements and processes of care work attend to older people’s social and emotional needs; and
• the policy, regulatory and organisational arrangements which would more effectively ensure provision of quality, whole-of-person care.