Well-led framework
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) and NHS England have jointly developed and published new well-led guidance for trusts under the Single assessment framework which can be accessed on the CQC website and is applicable to all trusts from April 2024. We are currently reviewing our guidance on developmental reviews and will update this web page in due course.
It continues to be good practice for trusts to regularly review their leadership and governance. Trusts will want to tailor the scope of developmental reviews to align with their current priorities and the new well-led guidance, however the guidance on this page based on the previous Well-led framework still provides relevant information on how to scope, procure and run a developmental review.
This framework out how providers should carry out developmental reviews of their leadership and governance using the well-led framework.
- Developmental reviews of leadership and governance using the well-led framework: guidance for NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts – This document explains how providers should undertake reviews of leadership and governance as part of their ongoing development.
- Well-led framework supplementary guide – This guide gives practical advice that will help providers get the most from their reviews and explains how peer reviewers can be involved.
- Learning from developmental reviews of leadership and governance using the well-led framework – Information for chief executives and senior managers based on feedback from consultants in the first year of carrying out developmental reviews using the well-led framework.
Are services well-led?
As part of our commitment to simplifying our regulatory approaches, we’ve worked closely with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to bring together our respective approaches resulting in a fully joint well-led framework structured around eight key lines of enquiry.
We strongly encourage providers to use the new framework to undertake developmental reviews as part of their own continuous improvement.
Continuous improvement
The new framework maintains focus on strong integrated governance and leadership across quality, finance and operations, and in line with the changing operating environment and Developing People – Improving Care, increases emphasis on organisational culture, improvement and system working.
Our new guidance sets out how providers should carry out developmental reviews of their leadership and governance using the framework as part of their own continuous improvement. It includes information about carrying out self-reviews and commissioning external suppliers to facilitate reviews.
We encourage providers to consider involving peer reviewers as part of their external facilitation team where appropriate to make use of and enhance skills and experience across the NHS.
CQC assessments and the well-led framework
CQC uses the well-led framework to structure their assessments of the well-led question as part their next phase of regulation.
Supporting documents
- Self-review template (Word) – An editable template for completing self-reviews.
- Self-review template (Excel) – An editable template for completing self-reviews.
- Well-led framework information for peer reviewers – This short guide provides information for peer reviewers thinking about participating in developmental reviews.