Effective · KLOE 4
Supporting people to live healthier lives
Are people supported to manage their own health and wellbeing and, where the service is responsible, how does it improve the health of its population?
CQC wording, primary care and community services draft V6.0, pages 25 to 27.
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:
- Population health and prevention (including health inequalities)
- Identification and early health interventions
- Healthier lives promotion
How would this apply to your service?
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 25 to 27. 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 are empowered and supported to manage their own health, care and wellbeing needs. Staff understand people’s preferences, strengths, cultures and histories, ensuring their care is genuinely person-centred.
- Staff encourage an open and inclusive culture that supports people to access other health or social care services and promotes psychological safety.
- People are supported to make healthier choices through approaches that recognise diverse needs and remove barriers to wellbeing.
- The service focuses on identifying preventative approaches to improve people’s long-term health and outcomes. There is continuous learning and innovation to anticipate and address risks before issues arise.
- The service uses population health data to support prevention work, to improve outcomes for its communities and to reduce health inequalities. It shares knowledge and insights across neighbourhoods and the system to make a positive difference for people, staff and the community.
Good
- People are empowered and supported to manage their own health, care and wellbeing needs by staff who understand their needs and preferences.
- People are supported to be as involved as possible in monitoring and reviewing their own health and wellbeing needs. This includes supporting them to access other health or social care services.
- People are encouraged and supported to make healthier choices to help promote and maintain their health and wellbeing.
- The service considers and acts on health inequalities and barriers for different people when taking preventative approaches.
- The service has a focus on identifying preventative approaches to improve long-term health and outcomes. When risks to people’s health and wellbeing are detected, they are supported to prevent deterioration.
- The service uses population health data to support prevention, improve outcomes and reduce health inequalities.
Requires improvement
- People are not consistently supported to manage their own health, care and wellbeing needs. Staff do not always understand their needs and preferences.
- People are not consistently or regularly supported to review their health and wellbeing needs where appropriate and necessary. They do not always receive support to access other healthcare services.
- People are not always encouraged and supported to make healthier choices to help promote and maintain their health and wellbeing.
- There is limited focus on prevention and identifying health needs early to improve long-term health outcomes. When risks to people’s health and wellbeing are detected, they are not always supported to prevent deterioration.
- Population health data is not fully understood and is not consistently used to support prevention, improve outcomes or reduce health inequalities.
Inadequate
- People are not supported to manage their own health, care and wellbeing needs. Staff do not know their needs and preferences.
- People are not supported to be involved in a regular review of their health and wellbeing needs where appropriate. They do not receive any support to access other healthcare services.
- People are not encouraged or supported to make healthier choices to help promote and maintain their health and wellbeing.
- There is no focus on prevention and identifying health needs early. Staff are reactive, rather than proactive in supporting people to live healthier lives, and those who need extra support are not identified. Risks to people’s health and wellbeing are not detected.
- The service does not use population health data to support prevention, improve outcomes or reduce health inequalities.
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.