The International Day of Older Persons on 1 October will mark the start of South Australia’s Age Friendly Services Week, an opportunity for older people to provide feedback about the age friendliness of the South Australian government services they receive.

The Age Friendly Services project is an early action of South Australia’s Plan for Ageing Well 2020-2025, which recognises the need to cultivate inclusive communities and challenge ageism.

Older people have helped develop a range of project resources including Age Friendly Customer Service Guidelines, tools to engage service staff, promotional posters, and customer feedback surveys.

Participating government services will gather customer feedback 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 expansion of the approach to other government services.

Seniors Card, SA Public Transport Authority, Women’s Information Service, Concessions and Support Services, SA Housing Authority, Public Library Services, and Public Trustee pilot-tested in 2021.