The moment a concern becomes a complaint: what weekend response reveals about aged care leadership

By Lauren Todorovic, CEO & Founder, Care & Co Group

Complaints in aged care rarely begin as complaints.

They usually start as small moments where something doesn’t feel quite right. A missed call bell. A delayed response. An unanswered question. A conversation that never quite happens.

At times, they are more confronting. Moments where dignity, comfort or basic care expectations are not met in the way families believe they should be.

What turns those moments into complaints is not always the issue itself. It is the feeling that follows. The uncertainty. The sense that something is wrong and no one is quite taking ownership of it.

When concerns are acknowledged early, when someone listens and responds with clarity, trust can actually deepen. Families understand that things go wrong. What they are looking for is reassurance that it matters and that something will be done.

When that does not happen, something shifts. The issue stops being about the original moment and becomes about whether anyone is really paying attention.

The weekend gap no one talks about

Aged care operates around the clock, but the experience of raising a concern does not always reflect that.

During the week, there is usually someone visible. A general manager, a clinical leader, someone who can step in, make a decision and provide an answer.

Weekends feel different.

Concerns raised on a Friday evening or over the weekend often sit in limbo. Families are told the manager will review it on Monday, that it has been passed on, or that it is being investigated.

Those responses may be accurate, but they rarely provide comfort.

For a family member who is worried about their parent or grandparent, waiting days without a clear answer can feel like something is being avoided. Even when that is not the intention, the experience is the same.

In some cases, there are formal processes underway behind the scenes. Incident reviews, documentation, internal escalation. But families are not always told what is happening or when they will hear back.

What feels like process inside the organisation can feel like silence to the person on the outside, and that silence is where doubt starts to grow.

It is often in these moments, not because of what happened, but because of what did not happen next, that a concern begins to turn into something more formal.

The pressure sitting in the middle

Much of this sits with middle management, who are often holding competing demands in real time.

Clinical care managers and unit managers are navigating staffing constraints, regulatory expectations, organisational priorities and the needs of residents and families, often all at once.

It is not an easy role, and most are doing their best in challenging conditions.

Some leaders recognise that when a family raises a concern, they are not just asking a question. They are signalling that something does not feel right, and they are looking for someone to take it seriously.

Others, often under pressure, fall back on process. The issue is logged, passed on, or deferred, with the expectation that it will be addressed in due course.

The difficulty is that concern does not operate on administrative timelines.

Families today are more informed and more confident in raising issues, but more importantly, they are more willing to keep going if they feel they are not being heard.

Escalation is usually the last step

When concerns are not resolved, families eventually look elsewhere.

For many, that means contacting the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, although this is rarely where they begin.

Most families will have already tried to resolve the issue directly, often more than once. Escalation tends to happen when they reach a point where they no longer believe the provider will address it.

The Commission’s data reflects this. In 2023–24, more than 9,000 complaints were made about Australian Government-funded aged care services, with residential care accounting for the majority. The most common issues relate to care quality, communication, staff behaviour and how concerns are managed.

By the time a complaint reaches that stage, it is rarely just about the original issue. It reflects the experience of trying, and failing, to have it resolved.

The transparency paradox

There can be hesitation within organisations about being too open with families, particularly when it comes to explaining complaints processes or external escalation pathways.

In practice, transparency tends to build trust rather than undermine it.

When families understand what will happen next, who is responsible and what their options are, it reduces uncertainty. It reassures them that the issue is being taken seriously.

Most families are not looking to escalate. They are looking for someone to acknowledge the concern, explain what is happening and follow through.

What complaints are really telling us

Complaints are often treated as something to manage and close out.

In reality, they provide one of the clearest insights into what is happening within a service.

They highlight where communication is breaking down, where staff are under pressure, where systems are not working as intended, and where expectations of care are not being met.

They also reflect something more personal. Moments where people feel that their loved one has not been treated with the dignity or attention they deserve.

These are not abstract issues. They are deeply felt, and they are remembered.

When organisations pay attention to complaints in this way, they can identify and address risks early. When they do not, those same issues tend to reappear in more formal and more public ways.

The leadership test

Organisations that manage complaints well tend to understand that these moments are not just about process, but about relationships.

They respond early, communicate clearly and ensure that someone takes ownership of the issue from start to finish.

They also make sure that when concerns are raised, even outside standard hours, there is a clear pathway for action and follow-up.

Because when a family raises a concern, they are not thinking about internal structures or reporting lines. They are thinking about the person they care about and whether they are safe, comfortable and being looked after.

Complaints begin as signals about trust, care and culture.

The real test of leadership is whether those signals are recognised and responded to in a way that reassures people when it matters most.