Effective · KLOE 4
Supporting people to live healthier lives
Are people supported to manage their own health and wellbeing?
CQC wording, secondary and specialist hospital care draft v0.6, pages 29 to 30.
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:
- Population health and prevention (including health inequalities)
- Identification and early health interventions
- Healthier lives promotion
- Supporting access to healthcare services – GP, dentists, mental health, social care, etc
- Physical activity
- Care Education and Treatment Reviews
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 29 to 30. 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
- The service is an exemplar in empowering and supporting people to manage their own health, care and wellbeing needs.
- Staff use proactive, equity‑driven and fully inclusive approaches that recognise diverse needs, remove barriers to wellbeing and empower people to make healthier choices.
- The service focuses on identifying preventative approaches to improve long-term health and wellbeing outcomes, embedding continuous learning and innovation to anticipate and address risks before issues arise.
- The service uses population health data to drive prevention and improve outcomes for its communities. It shares knowledge and insights across neighbourhoods and the system to make a positive difference for people, staff and their local community.
- Staff build strong, proactive links with external health promotion partners, creating seamless opportunities for people to develop skills, improve wellbeing and engage with community resources that enhance recovery.
Good
- People are empowered and supported to manage their own health, care and wellbeing by staff who understand their needs and preferences.
- Staff foster an open and inclusive culture that supports people to access other healthcare services.
- People are encouraged and supported to make healthier choices to help promote and maintain their health and wellbeing.
- The service uses population health data to drive prevention and improve long-term health and outcomes. When risks to people’s health and wellbeing are detected, they are supported to prevent deterioration.
- Approaches to health promotion and prevention are equitable and inclusive. The service considers health inequalities that people using the service may be experiencing and it acts to remove any barriers that prevent people from making healthier choices.
Requires improvement
- People are not consistently supported to manage their own health, care and wellbeing needs. Staff do not always understand their needs and preferences.
- People do not always receive support to access other health or social care services.
- People are not always encouraged and supported to make healthier choices to help promote and maintain their health and wellbeing.
- There is limited focus on prevention and early identification of health needs to improve long-term health outcomes. When risks to people’s health and wellbeing are detected, they are not always supported to prevent deterioration.
- Population health data is inconsistently understood and used to prevent or improve outcomes.
Inadequate
- People are not supported to manage their own health, care and wellbeing needs. Staff do not know their needs and preferences.
- People do not receive support to access other healthcare services.
- People are not encouraged or supported to make healthier choices to help promote and maintain their health and wellbeing.
- There is no focus on prevention and early identification of health needs. Staff are reactive, rather than proactive in supporting people to live healthier lives, and those who need extra support are not identified. Risks to people’s health and wellbeing are not detected.
- The service has no awareness of, or does not use, population health data to prevent or improve outcomes.
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.