Well-led · KLOE 6
Partnerships and communities
Is the service working effectively with its population and partners to deliver high quality care and treatment that meet the diverse needs of the people who use them?
CQC wording, primary care and community services draft V6.0, pages 56 to 58.
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:
- Sharing good practice and learning
- Partnership working and collaboration
- Involvement and co-production
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 56 to 58. 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
- The service takes a lead role to improve the health of its population and tackle health inequalities across the local system at neighbourhood level, as well as regionally or nationally.
- Collaboration is deeply embedded at every level, with co-designed services that are seamlessly integrated and responsive to the evolving population needs.
- Staff and leaders demonstrate sustained relationships within the local system as well as more widely at neighbourhood level and beyond. They foster a culture of trust and respect, enabling dialogue and collaborative working to solve problems.
- People who use the service, staff and stakeholders are meaningfully involved as equal partners in the design, delivery, and evaluation of services. Co-production is embedded in the culture of the service, with diverse voices actively shaping decisions. Engagement is inclusive and sustained.
- Feedback from people who use services, the public and stakeholders is welcomed and seen as a vital way of holding services to account. Leaders actively seek feedback, respond transparently, and use challenge as a driver for improvement and innovation.
Good
- The service openly shares good practice and learning across the local system at neighbourhood level, regionally and nationally.
- Staff and leaders work in collaboration with relevant stakeholders and organisations within the local system to deliver joined-up services that meet the needs of the population served and achieve good outcomes for people.
- Staff and leaders support good interpersonal relationships across partnerships. They communicate openly, build trust and encourage collaboration.
- People who use services, staff and stakeholders are regularly involved in shaping the design and delivery of the service. Their views and experiences are actively sought and used to inform decisions. Co-production is encouraged and efforts are made to include a range of voices through tailored and accessible engagement approaches.
- All feedback from people who use services, the public, and other stakeholders is considered and used to inform how to develop the service. There is an appropriate response to feedback and a clear commitment to accountability and continuous improvement.
Requires improvement
- The service shares good practice and learning inconsistently or only within limited internal groups. Opportunities to contribute to wider system learning are missed, and there is limited evidence of proactive engagement with external partners.
- Staff and leaders demonstrate limited or inconsistent relationships with partners and external stakeholders, leading to missed opportunities for collaboration.
- People who use services, staff and other stakeholders are not always involved in shaping the design and delivery of the service. Opportunities for co-production are missed and there is little evidence that feedback meaningfully influences decisions. Feedback and challenge is not consistently used to develop the service.
Inadequate
- The service does not share good practice or learning beyond its own organisation. There is little or no evidence of engagement with the wider system, and opportunities to contribute to collective improvement are routinely overlooked.
- Staff and leaders do not actively support interpersonal relationships across partnerships. Communication with them is poor or non-existent. There is little or no recognition of interdependencies, and services operate in isolation. This undermines joint working, erodes trust and impedes progress across the system.
- People who use services, staff, and stakeholders are not involved in the design or delivery of the service. There is minimal or no engagement. Feedback and challenge is discouraged, ignored, or met with defensiveness.
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.