CQC - Single assessment framework (18 July 2022)

Summary

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has introduced a new assessment framework that it will use to set out its view of quality and make judgements about health services. The framework is being introduced in phases, and the CQC has published it before it comes into use so that providers and other stakeholders can start to become familiar with it.

Content

The new framework aims to:

• make things simpler.
• better reflect how care is actually delivered by different types of service as well as across a local area.
• connect CQC registration activity to its assessments of quality.

The CQC will continue to use its existing quality ratings and five key questions, but this framework replaces the existing key lines of enquiry (KLOEs) and prompts with new ‘quality statements’, also known as 'we statements'. For each quality statement, the CQC will state which evidence it will always need to collect and look at, which will vary depending on the type of service,