More customers have their say in latest survey

​Throughout June, more customers shared their views on Aruma’s service, as part of our twice-yearly customer and family feedback survey, thanks to new ways they could respond.  

Out of the 371 people who took part in the survey, 192 were customers and 179 were family members or guardians. Some 145 customers accessed the new Easy Read version of the survey, which was introduced with staff training and extra encouragement of staff to support customers in completing the survey.

The last survey we did in November 2021 got 338 responses.

Aruma’s Customer Experience and Strategy General Manager Beata Brodowska said gathering feedback through ways like surveys and making changes to Aruma from that feedback was the key to our organisation helping customers live the life they choose.

Asking for feedback in surveys is an important part of being person-centred and a high-quality disability services provider, Beata said.

While we’ve always encouraged staff to help our customers provide feedback, we’ve introduced the new Easy Read version of our regular survey to give more customers with different communications needs and abilities the chance to fully have their say.

We’re so pleased to have received such brilliant insight from more of our customers because we’ll use that information to make meaningful changes and celebrate what we do well.

So, what are we doing well?

Our customers and families told us our strengths are:

• Family members were happier with Support Workers and the quality of service provided in our homes and hubs, compared to the previous survey
• More than 4 in 5 respondents believed customers were treated with dignity and respect, and felt safe and cared for mostly or always
• Less respondents flagged communication as an area needing improvement, with just 10% in this survey compared to 15% and 25% in the previous two surveys. This shows our efforts to improve how we communicate with customers and family members are paying off
• Almost 2 in 5 (39%) people are highly likely to recommend Aruma.

What do we need to work on?

The main areas we need to improve relate to:

• Poor customer care (24%) and staffing issues (14%), which were the main drivers of detraction, followed by issues with management (e.g., lack of direction or oversight from management, or not replying to emails or calls)
• Staff consistency and recruitment (18%) and better communication and engagement (17%) were the top two areas customers wanted to see improved
• Customers and family members also wanted to see better support for staff in their work (9%)
• We also need to improve how staff are engaged, managed and trained to improve the quality of support provided on the ground
• Customers are asking for more meaningful activities and life skills, as well as more empathy and respect from staff

What are we doing to improve?

Aruma is making a range of improvements to make our organisation better and more sustainable, so we can serve our customers well now and into the future. Some initiatives include:

• We’ve recently changed our management structure in our homes and community hubs to bring Managers closer to our customers while enabling them more time to dedicate to their care.
• We’ve ramped up recruitment of Support Workers across all states and the ACT where we operate to stabilise our workforce to offer consistent rosters of staff for customers.
• We’ve introduced new processes across all Supported Independent Living homes to better assess and take action to fix issues with customer mix, home renovations and repairs, suitability of homes (accessibility, location etc.) and staffing.