Well-led · KLOE 6
Partnerships and communities
Is the service working effectively with its population and partners to deliver high quality care and treatment that meet the diverse needs of the people who use them?
CQC wording, secondary and specialist hospital care draft v0.6, pages 64 to 65.
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:
- Sharing good practice and learning
- Integration of health and social care
- Partnership working and collaboration
- Involvement and co-production
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 64 to 65. 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 takes a leading role, building on shared learning, to improve the broader health of its population and to tackle health inequalities across the local system, at neighbourhood level, regionally and nationally.
- Collaboration with external partners is deeply embedded at every level, with co-designed services that are seamlessly integrated and responsive to evolving population needs.
- Staff and leaders demonstrate sustained relationships within the local system, at neighbourhood level and beyond. They foster a culture of trust and respect, enabling dialogue and collaborative problem solving.
- People who use services, staff and local stakeholders are meaningfully involved as equal partners in the design, delivery, and evaluation of services. Co-production is embedded in the culture of the service, with diverse voices actively shaping decisions. Engagement is inclusive, culturally sensitive, non-discriminatory and sustained.
- Feedback from people who use services, the public and stakeholders is welcomed and seen as a vital way of holding services to account. Leaders actively seek feedback, respond transparently, and use challenge as a driver for improvement and innovation.
Good
- The service openly shares good practice and learning across the local system, at neighbourhood level, regionally or nationally.
- The service works well in partnership with others, sharing accurate and timely data in a transparent and accessible way, with the aim to improve care outcomes and experiences, and to make a positive difference to the local community and environment.
- Staff and leaders work together with all relevant external stakeholders and agencies within the local system to deliver joined-up services that meet the needs of the population
- Staff and leaders have good interpersonal relationships with partners. They communicate openly, build trust and encourage collaboration.
- People who use services, staff and local stakeholders are regularly involved in shaping the design and delivery of the service. Their views and experiences are actively sought and used to inform decisions. Co-production is encouraged, with efforts made to include a range of voices through tailored and accessible approaches to engagement.
- Feedback from people who use services, the public, and stakeholders is accepted and used to inform development of the service. Feedback is responded to appropriately, and there is a clear commitment to accountability and continuous improvement.
Requires improvement
- The service shares good practice and learning inconsistently or only within limited internal circles. Opportunities to contribute to wider system learning are missed, and there is limited evidence of proactive engagement with external partners.
- Staff and leaders demonstrate limited or inconsistent relationships across partnerships. Relationship building is sporadic or reactive, leading to missed opportunities for working collaboratively.
- Staff and leaders engage with external stakeholders and agencies inconsistently or superficially. Joint working is limited in scope or depth, and interdependencies are not fully recognised or used.
- There is a limited or inconsistent approach to seeking the views of people who use services, staff and local stakeholders. Engagement is limited in reach or depth and may not reflect the diversity of the local population. Opportunities for co-production are missed or under-developed, and there is little evidence that feedback meaningfully influences decisions.
- Challenge from people who use services, the public, or stakeholders is inconsistently acknowledged or acted on. Feedback mechanisms may exist but are under-used or lack transparency.
Inadequate
- The service does not share good practice or learning. There is little or no evidence of engagement with the wider system, and opportunities to contribute to collective improvement are routinely overlooked.
- Staff and leaders do not actively support interpersonal relationships across partnerships. Communication is either poor or there is none at all. This undermines joint working, erodes trust and impedes progress across the system.
- Staff and leaders do not work together meaningfully with external stakeholders or agencies. There is little or no recognition of interdependencies, and services operate in isolation.
- People who use services, staff, and stakeholders are not meaningfully involved in the design or delivery of the service. Engagement is either minimal or does not happen. There is no clear approach to co-production, and services are developed without input from those they affect.
- Challenge from people who use services, the public, or stakeholders is discouraged, ignored, or met with defensiveness. There are limited ways to give feedback, and accountability is either weak or there is none at all.
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.