CONTROVERSIAL star ratings for hospitals, primary care services and ambulance trusts are to be axed, it was announced today.

The ratings system, where NHS trusts in England are awarded between zero and three stars based on their performance, have been much criticised for providing too simplistic an assessment of health services.

Today, the Healthcare Commission announced that 2005 would be the last year of star ratings, which are published in July.

Instead, the health service watchdog said it would be introducing a new "health check" for the NHS.

A three-month consultation will now ask patients, the public and health workers what they feel should be assessed and what information they would like published.

The Healthcare Commission carries out inspections and provides ratings for 173 hospital trusts, 31 ambulance trusts, 303 primary care trusts and 83 mental health trusts.

Hospitals which want to apply for foundation status under the Government's controversial flagship scheme can only do so once they have achieved the top three-star rating.

Last year, four hospitals already awarded foundation status saw themselves drop a star, while a third of hospitals hoping to become foundation trusts also lost a crucial star.

Today, the Healthcare Commission said it wanted to make the health check broader than the current system of star ratings and to "cover standards that matter to patients such as safety and the care environment".

It said that inspections would be targeted, with a focus on where there were concerns and freeing frontline staff to care for patients.

The commission said they would reduce the burden of regulation, which manifests itself in bundles of paperwork, by using information gathered by healthcare organisations and other regulators.

They will also use spot-checks, unannounced visits and patient forums to check that the data they receive is correct.

The commission said it wanted to publish information about its findings that the public could understand and use to make informed choices about their care.

They also said they would let patients compare services by giving information of the quality of care in both the public and private sector.

From April next year NHS trusts will be measured against "core standards" in seven areas,, set by the Department of Health.

But the Government was accused of simply giving the old target culture "a fresh coat of paint".

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "This U-turn demonstrates forcibly how right the Conservatives were to say star ratings were a misleading and unhelpful way of describing hospitals.

"Star ratings do not reflect the quality of clinical care provided by hospitals, nor treatments received in clinical departments within hospitals.

"If patients are to exercise choice they need information relevant to this, not misleading star ratings.

"An example is MRSA rates. Hospitals with highest MRSA rates receive 'good' cleanliness ratings but have high infection rates.

"Given 5,000 people die every year from the hospital superbug, patients need information on the prevalence of infection to help decide where to go." Health Minister Lord Warner said the Government welcomed the thrust of the new proposals.

"It will be important that, at the end of the consultation, the new system provides a clear overall rating for each trust which takes account of the issues that are important to patients and is easily understood by them and by the public as a whole.

"We support the commission's approach of minimising the burden of inspection on the NHS frontline.

"We look forward to being able to approve a final version of the new rating system's criteria, as we are required by law to do."

Unison, the UK's largest health union, welcomed the end of the "discredited" star ratings system..

Karen Jennings, Unison's head of health, said: "NHS staff will be glad to see the back of the old star system.

"Unison will be responding fully to the consultation and giving the proposals rigorous scrutiny to ensure that the failed star system is not replicated."

Nigel Edwards, of the NHS Confederation, added: "There is much in these proposals which looks encouraging.

"We are glad that the burden of inspections on the NHS will be reduced, and that the assessment process has been changed to place more emphasis on patients' experience of their treatment."