Surge in aged-care complaints

COMPLAINTS about agedcare facilities have skyrocketed ahead of the royal commission into the scandal-plagued sector.

The number of concerns put to the regulator is on track to rise by 50 per cent this year, with 737 officially logged between July and December.

For residential facilities, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission received 958 complaint referrals in 2017-18, almost triple the 363 fielded the previous year.

The figures, which did not include vexatious claims, expose the number of complaints that had been deemed to require action.

The royal commission will hold its first hearing on Monday. It will focus on key features of the quality and complaints system, including whether the system works in practice.

Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt said he hoped the hearings would help to understand the full extent of the problems facing the sector.

“I hope this will help us understand how we can meet the challenges and the opportunities of delivering aged-care services now and into the future,” he said.