Retirement village expectations and experiences: an exploratory study

'Lifestyle' retirement villages are promoted as promising alternative accommodation for older Australians, a trend that has implications for aged care and housing policies. This paper presents the results of interviews conducted in November 2000 with 26 retirement village residents as a pilot study for a future research project. Although most respondents expressed high rates of satisfaction with village life, some were disappointed. Complaints mainly related to perceptions that the standard or provision of services and facilities expected when they had contracted to buy into the village were not being adequately met. The more serious complaints revolved around anticipated health care supports, for example, the loss of a nurse on the premises. The data raises issues of how lifestyle retirement villages fit into the continuum of care for older Australians as levels of dependency increase.