CQC Single Assessment Framework Audit Tools
The CQC Single Assessment Framework (SAF) replaced the previous Key Lines of Enquiry (KLoE) approach, introducing quality statements that describe what good and outstanding care looks like. MyCareAudit’s templates are fully aligned to the SAF structure, helping you audit against the standards that inspectors now use.
The SAF organises quality assessment around five key questions — Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, and Well-Led — with detailed quality statements under each. Our platform provides audit templates that map directly to these quality statements, ensuring your self-assessment covers everything the CQC evaluates.
Whether you are preparing for your first assessment under the new framework or maintaining continuous compliance between inspections, MyCareAudit gives you the structured tools to evidence quality across all five domains.
Key Benefits
Quality Statement Mapping
Every template maps to specific CQC quality statements, ensuring complete coverage of the Single Assessment Framework.
Evidence Categories
Audit templates aligned to the six evidence categories CQC uses: people's experience, feedback, observation, processes, outcomes, and staff.
Self-Assessment Tool
Complete a structured self-assessment against all quality statements, generating an evidence-based view of your current position.
Gap Analysis
Automatically identify gaps between your current practice and the quality statements, with prioritised improvement recommendations.
Rating Indicators
Quality statement-level scoring that aligns with CQC rating descriptors for Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, and Inadequate.
Evidence Portfolio
Build a structured evidence portfolio organised by quality statement, ready to share with inspectors.
Features
Safe
Templates covering safeguarding, risk management, medication safety, infection prevention, staffing, and premises safety quality statements.
Effective
Templates for care planning, nutrition, consent, staff skills, multi-agency working, and outcome monitoring quality statements.
Caring
Templates covering dignity, privacy, independence, emotional support, and involvement of people in their care quality statements.
Responsive
Templates for person-centred care, complaints, end-of-life, accessibility, and meeting diverse needs quality statements.
Well-Led
Templates covering governance, quality improvement, culture, innovation, leadership, and regulatory compliance quality statements.
Cross-Cutting Themes
Templates addressing themes that span multiple quality statements including equality, human rights, and sustainability.
Who Uses This
SAF Self-Assessment
Complete a full self-assessment against the Single Assessment Framework, identifying strengths and areas for improvement before CQC assess your service.
Pre-Inspection Preparation
Use quality statement mapping to prepare targeted evidence for each area CQC will assess, reducing the stress of unannounced inspections.
Post-Inspection Action Planning
After an inspection, use templates to address findings and build evidence of improvement aligned to the specific quality statements identified.
Continuous Monitoring
Run rolling audits against quality statements throughout the year, maintaining continuous compliance rather than cramming before inspections.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the CQC Single Assessment Framework?\u25BE
The SAF is CQC's approach to assessing health and social care services, introduced from 2023. It uses quality statements organised under five key questions (Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, Well-Led) to describe what good care looks like.
How does MyCareAudit map to quality statements?\u25BE
Each audit template is tagged with the relevant quality statements it addresses, so you can track coverage and identify any quality statements not yet covered by your audit programme.
What are the six evidence categories?\u25BE
CQC uses six categories of evidence: people's experience of care, feedback from people, observation, processes, outcomes, and staff experience. Our templates are designed to generate evidence across all six categories.
Can I generate a SAF self-assessment report?\u25BE
Yes. The platform can produce a self-assessment report structured by quality statement, showing your current scoring, evidence summary, and improvement actions for each area.
Does MyCareAudit update when CQC changes quality statements?\u25BE
Yes. Templates are reviewed and updated when CQC publishes changes to quality statements or assessment methodology, ensuring your tools remain current.
Master the Single Assessment Framework
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