During the week, twenty-two South Australian government services sought customer feedback, about the age friendliness of their service through a survey – online, in-person, or over the phone, with a hardcopy ‘postcard’ version also available. The feedback will be used to make customer service quality improvements, to refine resources and to inform the expansion of the approach to other government services.
To prepare, more than one hundred state government staff and volunteers recently attended Age Friendly Services Workshops, exploring key themes to age friendliness including diversity, access, dignity, participation, and leadership, as outlined in the Office for Ageing Well’s Age Friendly Customer Service Guidelines. These Guidelines, codesigned by older people, support staff and services to uphold older people rights, and recognise them as valued community members.
Workshop attendees, with assistance from Socially Connected Solutions, Age Friendly Guides (older people) and Office for Ageing Well, worked in teams to increase skills and knowledge to:
- Respond to the diversity of needs and interests of older people with confidence.
- Ensure older people find the service easy to access.
- Preserve and promote the dignity of older people.
- Allow for older people to participate in service design and review.
- Demonstrate management and leadership support for the delivery of age friendly services.
During Age Friendly Services Week some services provided age friendly initiatives such as staff training or age friendly events with guest speakers, and all sought feedback from older customers. Participating services included:
- Aberfoyle Community Centre, City of Onkaparinga
- Aldinga Community Centre, City of Onkaparinga
- Alexandrina Libraries, Alexandrina Council
- Burnside Library, City of Burnside
- City of Adelaide Customer Centre, City of Adelaide
- City Library, City of Adelaide
- Coventry Library, Adelaide Hills Library Service
- Adelaide Railway Station InfoCentre and InfoLife, Department for Infrastructure and Transport
- Gawler Library, Town of Gawler Council
- Glenelg Library, City of Holdfast Bay
- Glenside Health Services, SA Health
- Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre, SA Health
- Noarlunga Library, City of Onkaparinga
- Orroroo School Community Library, District Council of Orroroo Carrieton
- Playford Library, City of Playford
- Roma Mitchell House. SA Health
- Royal Adelaide Hospital, SA Health
- Seniors Card, Office for Ageing Well
- Statewide Rehabilitation Services, SA Health
- Torrens Connect, Department for Planning, Transport and Infrastructure
- Unley Libraries, City of Unley
- Women’s Information Service. Office for Women
The Age Friendly Services project, supported by Office for Ageing Well, is an action of South Australia’s Plan for Ageing Well 2020-2025, which recognises the need to cultivate inclusive communities and challenge ageism.
For more information, including the tools and online Guidelines, visit the Age Friendly Services website.