Caring · KLOE 3

Independence, choice, and control

Are people empowered to maintain their independence and to make choices about their care and plans for their future, where they are able to?

CQC wording, primary care and community services draft V6.0, pages 33 to 35.

Draft, not the current assessment framework

CQC's primary care and community services draft V6.0, 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 primary care and community services, but useful evidence depends on your service and people.

Source: CQC, Primary care and community services assessment framework, draft V6.0, 19 March 2026, pages 33 to 35. 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.

People who use services and those close to them are active partners in their care.
Staff always empower people who use the service to have a voice and to realise their potential. They show determination and creativity to overcome obstacles to delivering care. This includes working collaboratively with people’s family and carers to deliver individualised care.
Staff are exceptional at enabling people to manage their own health and care and to remain independent for as long as possible.
Care and treatment is flexible and personalised. The service is fully committed to providing informed choice and ensuring a seamless experience in relation to continuity of care.
People are fully supported to maintain their social connections and to make significant life choices and choices at the end of their life.
The service plays an active part in the local community and as part of the neighbourhood agenda, which benefits both the people it cares for and the wider society.

People are supported to have choice and control, and to make decisions about their care, treatment and wellbeing.
Staff work with people to support, empower and enable them to achieve their goals. This includes what matters to people about their future care preferences around independence and care interventions.
People are supported to maintain relationships and networks that are important, with access to family, friends, cultural and advocacy support while using a service.
There is a range of appropriate equipment to support and maximise people’s independence and outcomes from care and treatment.
Children, their parents or carers are supported to plan for their future, ensuring their changing needs are considered and they have time to make informed choices about their future.
People who may be approaching the end of their life are identified to ensure their needs are met and the right support is provided. This information is shared with other services and staff.
Where appropriate, end of life care planning is encouraged and preferences are recorded.
People’s care plans take into account human rights and their needs relating to protected equality characteristics. People can update and change their choices.

Staff do not always consider involving people and those close to them in decisions about care and treatment.
People are not encouraged or enabled to manage their own care.
People do not always understand what is going to happen to them during their care or treatment. Staff do not always explain things clearly, give people time to respond, or help them to understand the information they are given about their care and condition.
People who may be approaching the end of their life are not always identified or supported.
People’s choices about their treatment and care, including in the context of end of life care, are not treated as a high priority. People’s care plans don’t always consider their needs relating to protected equality characteristics.

People and those close to them are not involved in decisions about care and treatment.
People do not know or understand what is going to happen to them during their care or treatment. People do not know how to ask for help or are ignored when they do so.
The service is not set up to support people who may be approaching the end of their life, people who have complex needs, or those in vulnerable circumstances.
People’s care plans don’t consider their needs relating to protected equality characteristics.

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