Safe · KLOE 5
Safe environments and infection prevention and control
Are the premises and equipment suitable and safe for delivery of care, and are potential risks within the care environment detected and managed appropriately to keep people and staff safe?
CQC wording, mental health care draft, pages 15 to 18.
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:
- Premises and buildings (including gas, electrical and fire safety)
- Equipment, including equipment to assess and monitor physical health, medical devices.
- Infection prevention and control
- Environmental risks (adverse weather such as heatwaves and flooding)
- Digital systems/technology assurance
- Anti ligature, therapeutic, sensory appropriate environments
- Contactless patient monitoring systems
- Same sex provision and shared sleeping arrangements
- Call systems
- Building note compliance and relevant environmental legislation
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 15 to 18. 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
- Environments are co-designed with people who have lived experience and they incorporate therapeutic, sensory-appropriate, anti-ligature and psychologically safe design principles. Spaces actively promote recovery, autonomy, dignity and the reduction of restrictive practice. Innovative and creative design features demonstrably improve emotional safety and wellbeing for diverse groups of people using the service.
- Systems to manage facilities, premises, equipment and technology are exemplary, ensuring that risks are appropriately identified and managed across their life cycle.
- Systems for assessing and managing risks from infection are exemplary, deeply embedded and fully adapted to the realities of mental health care. Infection prevention and control roles are clearly defined, highly skilled and visible in everyday practice.
Good
- The facilities, premises, equipment and technology are safe to use, well-maintained and consistently support the delivery of safe and effective care. Staff are clear about their responsibilities with regard to safe environments.
- The size, setting and design of the service aligns with best practice and legislation.
- People are cared for in safe and age-appropriate environments that are designed to meet their needs. There are designated spaces to meet people’s cultural and sensory needs.
- The signage, decoration and other adaptions to the premises help to meet people’s needs and keep them safe.
- Any changes to the environment are risk assessed and do not impose any restrictions on people’s liberty or cause any distress to people.
- There is a comprehensive system to proactively identify and manage risks in the care environment.
- There is an effective approach to assessing and managing the risk of infection, in line with current national guidance. Staff have clear roles and responsibilities around infection prevention and control. Information about the risk of infection is shared appropriately with relevant partners, including agency staff, contractors, people using the service and visitors.
- Equipment, supplies and technology used for delivering care and treatment are suitable for the intended purpose, stored securely, well maintained, safe and used properly.
- Safety alerts, recalls and safety information are promptly reviewed and acted on.
- There are effective fire safety procedures in place. Where the provider is not responsible for the premises, staff takes reasonable and prompt action to appropriately escalate concerns.
- Staff carry out comprehensive risk assessments to consider how the environment can keep people safe from physical and psychological harm. For example, in relation to sexual safety or sensory needs.
- The environment is safe for staff to work in.
- The service provides safe, well-supervised environments for all visitors, including children who attend adult settings, where there is a welcoming, supportive atmosphere.
Requires improvement
- Systems to detect and control potential risks in the care environment are inconsistent. As a result, the facilities, premises, equipment and technology are not always safe to use, well-maintained, stored safely, clean or used properly.
- Environments do not always meet people’s physical and psychological needs. The premises are not always suitable for the purposes for which they are being used.
- The service does not always consider how changes to the environment might affect people. It does not always mitigate risks associated with changing the environment, which may result in restrictions to people’s liberty and causes distress.
- There are fire safety procedures in place, but they are not always effective. Staff do not always know what to do if there is a fire. Where the provider is not responsible for the premises, it does not always take reasonable action to appropriately escalate concerns.
- The service does not always act on alerts, recalls and safety information in a timely way.
- Staff do not always consider how environments can keep people safe from physical and psychological harm. Infection prevention and control is not always appropriately managed. Staff do not always follow good practice in relation to infection prevention and control, and information about the risk of infection is not always shared with partners.
- The environment is not always safe for staff to work in.
Inadequate
- Systems to detect and control potential risks in the care environment are ineffective. As a result, the facilities, premises, equipment and technology systems are unsafe.
- The environment does not meet people’s needs and the premises are not suitable for the purposes for which they are being used.
- The service does not consider how changes to the environment might affect people. It does not mitigate risks associated with changing the environment, meaning that changes often result in restrictions to people’s liberty and cause distress.
- Fire safety procedures are either ineffective or do not exist. Staff do not know what to do if there is a fire. Where the provider is not responsible for the premises, it does not appropriately escalate concerns.
- The service does not act on alerts, recalls and safety information in a timely way.
- There is no consideration about how the environment can keep people safe from physical and psychological harm.
- There is no system to assess and manage the risk of infection. Staff are not clear on their responsibilities around infection prevention and control. Information about the risk of infection is not known or shared.
- The environment is not safe for staff to work in.
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.