About
GEN is a comprehensive “one–stop shop” for data and information about aged care in Australia. It reports on capacity and activity in the aged care system focusing on the people, their care needs and the services they use.
GEN was launched in August 2017 to increase awareness, accessibility and usability of aged care data. It supports transparency and independence in aged care policy research and evaluation.
GEN is operated by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and funded by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
GEN is not an acroymn.
GEN was a military expression used during World War II to mean 'all necessary information about a particular subject'. It's the shortened form of 'general information'.
The website is called GEN because it provides general and necessary (data and) information about aged care in Australia.
Who is it for?
GEN supports a broad audience, including government agencies, researchers, non-government organisations, service providers, journalists, educators and the Australian public. Our information is used to inform public policy, improve service delivery and support research in aged care.
By making data accessible, accurate and easy to understand, we support better decisions and better outcomes for all Australians.
What topics are covered?
GEN covers a range of aged care topics, including:
- profile of the aged care system (providers, workforce, spending, quality)
- assessments for aged care and people’s care needs in aged care
- characteristics of people using aged care and their episodes of care
- different types of aged care (in-home care, residential care, flexible care)
- people’s pathways in aged care and interface with the health system
- populations of interest (First Nations, younger people in residential aged care).
What data is available?
Data on GEN are available in different formats to cater to different audiences, including:
- topic overviews
- interactive dashboards
- print-ready fact sheets
- detailed data tables
- reports and publications.
All information on GEN is free to download and use, subject to copyright, attribution or reproduction rights. For more information, see Copyright.
Where is the data from?
Most of the data presented on GEN is drawn from the National Aged Care Data Clearinghouse (NACDC). Some topics and publications are based on analysis of linked data using the National Aged Care Data Asset (NACDA) and external data sources. For more information, see About our data.
How often is the data updated?
Data on GEN are updated regularly.
Most topics, dashboards and fact sheets are updated annually. Some data tables and publications are updated more frequently (quarterly).
Subscribe to receive email notifications of new aged care data releases and other updates on GEN. Under Subscriptions select ‘Aged care / GEN’. You will receive updates of new aged care releases by the AIHW and a quarterly newsletter listing releases from other government agencies on GEN.
In addition, Forthcoming releases on the AIHW website contains the AIHW planned releases for the coming months. All release dates are subject to change. This list includes AIHW releases on GEN, but does not include releases from other government agencies on GEN.
