Effective · KLOE 2
Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
Is care and treatment delivered in line with current legislation, standards, evidence-based guidance and good practice?
CQC wording, mental health care draft, pages 28 to 30.
Draft, not the current assessment framework
CQC's mental health care draft, 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:
- Best practice guidance and standards
- Nutrition and hydration
- GIRFT (Getting it right first time) recommendations
- Clinical reviews/medical committees
- Service accreditation schemes
- Lawful least‑restrictive treatment
- Access to full range of psychological therapies, occupational therapies and therapeutic activity.
- Planned, risk assessed mental health act leave
- Recovery orientated care delivery
- Physical health interventions
How would this apply to your service?
The draft applies one framework across mental health care, but useful evidence depends on your service and people.
Source: CQC, Mental health care assessment framework, draft, 19 March 2026, pages 28 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
- People receive a range of care and treatment options that are person-centred, evidence-based and responsive to their individual needs, preferences and aspirations, recognising their strengths, cultures and histories, and resulting in better outcomes.
- There are rigorous, inclusive and evidence‑driven systems and processes that continually enhance people’s care, treatment and mental health outcomes. The service has proactive, well‑designed systems that keep staff ahead of national legislation, evidence‑based mental health practice and required standards, while actively supporting innovation and research within a psychologically safe environment.
- People are proactively empowered to share the decision making about their care and treatment, informed by the latest good practice. They, those close to them and advocates are fully and actively involved in ensuring these decisions are clearly reflected in personalised care plans.
- Staff and leaders are encouraged to learn about new and innovative approaches to delivering care, which are based on evidence of improvements. They use benchmarking and collaborative working with similar services to identify and address improvements, embracing a learning and improvement culture.
Good
- People receive evidence-based care, treatment and support that aligns with good practice standards, guidance and technological advances. People receive the right care, in the right place, and at the right time.
- There are effective approaches to monitor people’s care and treatment. The service participates in external audits and benchmarking, and the results are used to improve quality effectively.
- All staff understand the current legislation, national standards and good practice guidance relevant to their service and apply these effectively. There are good systems to ensure they keep up-to-date and that they embed this in their service.
- People are told about current good practice that is relevant to their care, and they, and those close to them are involved in how this is reflected in the care, treatment and support they receive.
- Staff and leaders are encouraged to learn about new and innovative approaches based on evidence that shows they can improve how their service delivers care.
- There is a clear strategy for managing people’s co-occurring conditions and multiple diagnoses. Staff are clear about roles and responsibilities to manage them by working with other services.
- People have access to a full range of psychological therapy, occupational therapy and activities suitable for their needs.
- People’s nutrition and hydration needs are assessed and met, including personal, cultural and sensory preferences.
- Where people are subject to the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA), decisions made about care and treatment comply with the MHA and the MHA Code of Practice. Any departure from the Code of Practice guidance is clearly justified and risk assessed.
- People are able to take appropriate leave from hospital for recreation and rehabilitation, and care plans reflect this.
Requires improvement
- People’s care, treatment and support does not always reflect current evidence-based guidance, standards, best practice and technological advancements. People do not always receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time.
- The service’s systems do not always ensure that staff are up-to-date with national legislation, evidence-based good practice and required standards.
- People are not always told about current good practice that is relevant to their care, and they are not always involved in how this is reflected in their care plan.
- Staff and leaders are not routinely encouraged to learn about new evidence-based approaches to improve how the service delivers care. Benchmarking with similar services is not proactively used to identify and address where improvements are needed.
- There is a strategy for managing co-occurring conditions and multiple diagnoses, but it is not clear to everyone, and staff are uncertain about roles and responsibilities in managing them.
- People’s nutrition and hydration needs are not consistently assessed or met and may not include their personal or cultural preferences.
- Decisions made about care and treatment do not always adhere to the Mental Health Act Code of Practice. Deviation from Code of Practice guidance is not always clearly recorded.
Inadequate
- People’s care, treatment and support does not reflect current evidence-based guidance, standards, practice or technology. People do not receive the right care, in the right place at the right time.
- The provider’s systems do not ensure that staff are up-to-date with national legislation, evidence-based good practice and required standards, or there are no systems to do so.
- People are not told about current good practice that is relevant to their care, and they are not involved in how this is reflected in their care plan.
- Staff and leaders are not supported or encouraged to learn about new evidence-based approaches to improve care delivery. Benchmarking with similar services is not used to identify and address where improvements are needed.
- There is no strategy to manage co-occurring conditions and multiple diagnoses. Staff do not know about roles and responsibilities in managing them.
- People’s nutrition and hydration needs are not assessed or met, including their personal or cultural preferences.
- Decisions made about care and treatment do not comply with the Mental Health Act Code of Practice or other legislation.
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.