Responsive · KLOE 1

Care provision, integration, and continuity

Is care co-ordinated and delivered in a flexible, joined-up way that reflects diverse needs and promotes choice and continuity?

CQC wording, secondary and specialist hospital care draft v0.6, pages 40 to 41.

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:

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 40 to 41. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

CQC draft rating characteristics

These are CQC's draft characteristics. CQC says rating characteristics guide judgements, they are not a mechanical checklist.

The service actively champions equity, inclusion and personalised choice, embedding these principles in every aspect of care and treatment.
Teams work with curiosity and cultural awareness to ensure people’s care, treatment and support honours their culture, history and identity. people experience seamless, responsive and consistent care, treatment and support that honours their identity, preferences and circumstances.
Care and treatment is holistic and wholly centred on each person’s assessed needs, preferences, strengths, and aspirations. Staff understand the whole person, including the impact of discrimination and social context, and adapt care to achieve the best possible outcomes, recovery and wellbeing.
People’s care and treatment is exceptionally well co-ordinated, seamless, responsive and consistent. Any barriers that prevent access to and continuity of care are anticipated and removed wherever possible.
The service works in authentic partnership with its communities and takes proactive, sustained action to tackle health inequalities.

The service understands the characteristics and needs of the population it serves and uses this insight to design and deliver flexible services that offer choice and continuity of care.
People can receive care and treatment from different services that are flexible and provide joined-up care. Care and treatment is co-ordinated and responsive and delivered in a way that meets their assessed needs.
Co-ordinating and delivering services is multidisciplinary where appropriate, and considers the needs and preferences of different people and communities, including those with protected equality characteristics and those at most risk of a poorer experience of care.

The service does not consistently reflect the needs of the population it serves. People’s care and treatment may offer limited flexibility, choice or continuity of care, or the different services are not very well joined up.
People’s care and treatment is not always co-ordinated, responsive or delivered in a way that meets their assessed needs.
The needs and preferences of difference people and communities, and those most at risk of a poorer experience of care are not consistently considered when delivering or co-ordinating services. People in these groups may describe poor experiences of care and treatment.

The service does not reflect the needs of the population it serves. People receive little or no flexibility, choice or continuity in their care and treatment. Services are not joined up.
People’s care and treatment is not co-ordinated, responsive or delivered in a way that meets their assessed needs.
The needs and preferences of difference people and communities, and those most at risk of a poorer experience of care are not considered when delivering and co-ordinating services. People may experience discrimination or report unsatisfactory experiences of care and treatment.

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