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, primary care and community services draft V6.0, pages 21 to 23.

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 21 to 23. 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 receive care that is based on substantiated evidence, responsive to their individual needs, preferences and aspirations, and recognises their strengths, cultures and histories.
There are comprehensive, effective, and inclusive approaches to monitor and improve people’s care, treatment.
Staff understand the current legislation, national standards and good practice guidance relevant to their service and apply this effectively. Staff are supported to research or develop innovations in a psychologically safe environment.
There are embedded systems and processes to proactively identify new care guidelines. These are adopted into clinical pathways in a timely way.
People are empowered to be involved in shared decision making about care and treatment options, including current good practice relevant to their care. They are actively involved in how this is reflected in their care plan.
Staff identify, assess and implement new and innovative approaches to delivering care, for example artificial intelligence in clinical care pathways.

People receive evidence-based care, treatment and support that aligns with good practice standards, guidance and technologies. This is regularly reviewed at appropriate intervals.
Staff understand the current legislation, national standards and good practice guidance relevant to their service and apply these effectively. They have good systems for ensuring they keep up to date and embed this in their service.
Staff identify new care guidelines and adopt these into clinical pathways in a timely way.
People are told about current good practice that is relevant to their care and are involved in how this is reflected in their care plan.
Where people are subject to the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA), decisions about their 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’s nutrition and hydration needs are assessed and met, including personal or cultural preferences.
The service has attained and maintains accreditation, where it is relevant.

People’s care, treatment and support do not always reflect current evidence-based guidance, standards, best practice and use of technologies.
Systems do not always ensure that staff are up to date with national legislation, evidence-based good practice and required standards.
Systems and processes to embed new care guidelines are not always effective and changes may not be adopted in a timely way.
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.
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 are not routinely encouraged to learn about new evidence-based approaches to improve how they deliver care. Benchmarking with similar services is not proactively used to identify and address where improvements are needed.
People’s nutrition and hydration needs are not consistently assessed or met. Personal or cultural preferences may not be included.

People’s care, treatment and support do not reflect current evidence-based guidance, standards, practice or use of technology.
Outcomes for people are very variable or significantly worse than expected when compared with other similar services. Legislation, standards and evidence-based clinical guidance is not implemented or followed.
There is no clear process to identify and embed new care guidelines in a timely way.
Monitoring of the outcomes of care and treatment is very limited or does not happen at all. Necessary action is not taken to improve people’s outcomes.
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.
Decisions made about care and treatment do not comply with the Mental Health Act Code of Practice.
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 are not supported or encouraged to learn about new evidence-based approaches to improve how they deliver care. Benchmarking with similar services is not used to identify and address where improvements are needed.
People’s nutrition and hydration needs are not assessed or met. Personal or cultural preferences are not included.

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