After years of complaints about the Federal Government’s aged care portal, the latest incarnation of My Aged Care been named Australia’s best-designed website.
The website – designed in partnership with digital experience agency Liquid Interactive, which bills itself as one of Australia’s leading agencies – took out the category at the Good Design Awards, which have been run annually since 1958, on Wednesday night.
The judges described the website as a “great example of the use of human-centred design to make a complex domain more accessible to people”.
“With our ageing population, this website is ideally placed to be solving several problems,” they said.
That has not always been the case however.
The Government began a $63 million redesign of the website after a series of complaints by residents, families, providers and health professionals since it launched in July 2014 about the site being difficult to navigate and use.
In June 2019, the Department unveiled the beta version of the new site which our own user experience designer labelled a big improvement – though much of the home care pricing was missing.
Liquid Interactive, whose other clients include the Australian Public Service, Beyondblue and RSPCA Queensland, says the site’s new “apply online” service is a good example of what a Government service experience should look like.
Of course, older Australians still need to know that the website exists – and be willing to reach out to access services.
The Royal Commission’s Interim Report noted the Department’s own research showed in March 2018 that 34% of those surveyed were not even aware that the Government subsidised aged care in the home and only 54% of people surveyed had ever used the website.
Government campaigns to raise community awareness of the site found while people knew they should know more about aged care, they want to delay interacting with the aged care system for as long as possible.
“Because of the emotional impact of even approaching the aged care decision, people were in effect limiting their own access to knowledge about the system,” the Commissioners wrote.
An issue that a well-designed website will not necessarily overcome.
