Hospitals could be paid according to the quality of care and how well operations are performed, as part of efforts to make the NHS more patient-centred.

The plans were among those unveiled by Prime Minister Gordon Brown as part of new legislation to help reform the NHS.

Acute trusts are currently paid under the 'payments by results' system, but this does not reflect the quality of care or patient experience, and the government believe this needs to be built into the system.

But doubts have been expressed about how these difficult-to-measure qualities can be added into an already complicated system.

The plans were contained in the new NHS Reform Bill, which will allow the government to make changes across the system including implementing the already-controversial plans for so-called 'super surgeries'.

Also confirmed in the bill were plans to create an NHS Constitution setting out the rights and responsibilities of staff and patients. Plans for the constitution had once encompassed greater autonomy for the health service from politicians, but this idea seems to have been abandoned.

The bill comes just ahead of the publication in June of Lord Darzi's Next Stage Review. The health minister and NHS surgeon has spent several months canvassing health service staff, patients and the public on how they want services to develop, but is also keen to promote a shift away from hospital-based to community-based care.

Other initiatives included in the bill are personal budgets for people with long-term conditions, such as diabetes, which are aimed at giving them more control over their care.

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