Health secretary Jeremy Hunt this week revealed plans to set up an Ofsted style ratings system of performance management for hospitals and care homes.

Mr Hunt announced on 28 November an independent study would report to ministers by the end of March 2013 into how a new ratings system - designed to ensure no increase in bureaucracy and easy for the public to understand - would operate.

Supporters of the plan said the ratings would allow the public to compare health providers easily and using an official website.

‘As an MP I know how well each school in my constituency is doing thanks to independent and thorough Ofsted inspections. But because the Care Quality Commission only measures whether minimum standards have been reached, they do not know the same about their hospitals and care homes,' Mr Hunt said.

‘I am not advocating a return to the old 'star ratings' - but the principle that there should be an easy to understand, independent and expert assessment of how well somewhere is doing relative to its peers must be right.'

President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, Sarah Pickup, said: ‘ADASS members will hope that dignity and compassion will be as much a part of any assessment as the accuracy and timeliness and practical and professional skills with which particular interventions are delivered.'

Cllr David Rogers, Chair of the LGA's Community Wellbeing Board, said: ‘Councils understand that ratings are important to drive quality and have used these in the past to pay premiums to the very best care homes.

‘But for a rating to be reliable and trusted it also needs to be current and reflect the true picture of the level of service a care home provides. This means ratings would need to be provided regularly, and certainly be no more than two years old