Caring · KLOE 1
Kindness, compassion and dignity
Are people treated with kindness, empathy, compassion and respect, and is their privacy and dignity maintained?
CQC wording, secondary and specialist hospital care draft v0.6, pages 33 to 35.
Draft, not the current assessment framework
CQC's secondary and specialist hospital care draft v0.6, published March 2026. The current quality statements remain in use.
CQC draft scope
What this proposed KLOE covers
Scope of this key line of enquiry and topic areas include:
- Respect and dignity
- Caring and compassion
- Privacy and confidentiality
- Emotional wellbeing
- Communication
- Anticipating need and responding quickly
How would this apply to your service?
The draft applies one framework across secondary and specialist hospital care, but useful evidence depends on your service and people.
Source: CQC, Hospitals (secondary and specialist care) assessment framework, draft v0.6, 19 March 2026, pages 33 to 35. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
CQC draft rating characteristics
How the draft describes each rating
These are CQC's draft characteristics. CQC says rating characteristics guide judgements, they are not a mechanical checklist.
Outstanding
- There is an exceptional, visible and values‑driven culture of person‑centred and non‑discriminatory care. Staff demonstrate deep cultural sensitivity and proactively challenge inequity, creating an environment where every person feels respected, understood and safe.
- Feedback from people consistently indicates that they feel genuinely cared for, listened to and valued as unique individuals. People from all backgrounds, including those with protected equality characteristics, report equitable and compassionate treatment that exceeds expectations.
- Staff are highly motivated, emotionally intelligent and deeply committed to delivering care that is kind, respectful and protective of people’s dignity. Staff go the extra mile. Care and support exceeds expectations. Staff establish genuine connections with the people they care for.
- Wherever possible, staff proactively anticipate instances in which people may be in discomfort and distress, and they take all practical steps to minimise those risks.
- Feedback from people who use the service, their families, carers and stakeholders is consistently and strongly positive, reflecting the exceptional respect, compassion and dignity with which staff treat people.
- Relationships between people using the service, their families and carers and staff are exceptionally strong and trusting. Staff value and protect these relationships, and leaders champion them as fundamental to high-quality health care.
- People’s emotional, cultural and social needs are treated with equal importance to their physical health needs. Staff understand the whole person and provide support that reflects this holistic understanding.
- Consideration of people’s privacy and dignity is consistently embedded in everything that staff do. Staff demonstrate real awareness of personal preferences and specific needs, ensuring they are recorded, understood and consistently upheld across the service.
Good
- People are cared for with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect.
- People from all backgrounds, including those with protected equality characteristics, report equitable and compassionate treatment.
- People experience care and treatment in a nurturing and supportive environment.
- Staff communicate clearly, in a kind and respectful way. They listen actively to people to understand and respond to their individual needs and preferences. Families, carers and advocates are listened to, and communicated with, clearly and respectfully.
- When people communicate their needs, emotions or distress, staff can manage this in a positive way that protects their rights and dignity. Staff learn what causes their distress in order to avoid it happening again. Feedback from families, carers and advocates is positive about the way staff treat people.
- Staff understand and uphold people’s human rights to ensure that their privacy, dignity and confidentiality are consistently maintained.
- There is a culture of kindness and respect across the service. Staff display positive behaviours when they interact with people, including when they talk about them with other professionals and stakeholders.
- Staff genuinely care about people’s wellbeing and show it in a thoughtful, meaningful way. They quickly anticipate and prioritise people’s comfort and wellbeing, using appropriate tools and communication to meet their needs effectively and avoid any preventable discomfort, concern or distress. When people show discomfort or distress or have urgent needs, staff respond quickly and in a positive way.
- People, their families and carers are aware of support networks, community services, and the options for advocacy support to help them navigate their care journey.
- Where people are subject to the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA), care and treatment is provided with dignity and respect, and the MHA Code of Practice is complied with. Any departure from the Code of Practice guidance is clearly justified.
Requires improvement
- People are not always cared for with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect.
- People do not always experience care and treatment in a nurturing and supportive environment.
- Staff do not always communicate clearly or in a kind and respectful way. Families, carers and advocates are not always listened to, and communicated with, clearly and respectfully.
- Staff do not always react in a positive way when people communicate their needs, emotions or distress. Feedback from families, carers and advocates is inconsistent about the way staff treat people.
- Staff do not always understand the need to make sure that people’s privacy, dignity and confidentiality is maintained at all times. While this may not always be intentional, it results in people not always feeling they are respected or valued.
- Some people who use the service, those who are close to them and other stakeholders have concerns about the way staff treat people.
- People, their families and carers are not always made aware of support networks, community services, and the options for advocacy support to help them navigate their care journey.
- Where people are subject to the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA), care and treatment is not always provided with dignity and respect, and the MHA Code of Practice is not always complied with. In such cases, departure from the Code of Practice guidance is not always clearly justified.
Inadequate
- People are not cared for with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect.
- People do not experience care and treatment in a nurturing and supportive environment.
- Staff are rude, impatient, judgemental, disrespectful or dismissive of people using their services or of those close to them.
- Staff react in a negative way when people communicate their needs, emotions or distress. Feedback from families, carers and advocates about the way staff treat people is negative.
- People’s privacy, dignity and confidentiality are not respected. There is a demonstrable lack of understanding of privacy, dignity and confidentiality.
- The lack of kindness, respect and compassion is usually serious and widespread.
- People do not receive support to cope emotionally with their care and condition.
- The routines and preferences of staff take priority, and they have little understanding of the impact of this approach on the wellbeing and needs of people using the service.
- Where people are subject to the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA), care and treatment is not provided with dignity and respect, and the MHA Code of Practice is not complied with.
Want to know how your service would fare?
Book a mock inspection run against the draft KLOEs, or call 020 8090 5346 to speak to one of our experts.