A Mid Sussex hospital has been named one of the best in England.

Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, kept its maximum three stars in the annual Government star ratings published today.

It means the specialist hospital is able to press ahead with plans to achieve controversial foundation hospital status and have more freedom from Whitehall control.

Other hospitals in the region did not fare so well with Brighton and Sussex Hospitals, which runs Princess Royal Hospital and Hurstwood Park Neurosciences Centre in Haywards Heath, getting just one star.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare, which runs Crawley Hospital, was also given one star, which means the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), which carried out the audit on behalf of the Department of Health, felt the trust was showing some cause for concern in key areas.

Sussex Ambulance Service dropped from two stars last year to one.

Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), which are responsible for managing NHS budgets, GP and dental services and public health, were rated for the first time this year.

Mid Sussex, Crawley and Horsham and Chanctonbury PCTs were awarded one star.

Queen Victoria Hospital chief executive Jan Bergman said: "The credit for achieving our performance targets and so receiving three stars must go to every member of staff in every department.

"This is their achievement, as without their hard work we would not be able to receive this national recognition.

"Our vision is for the Queen Victoria Hospital to be a world leader and our successes to date show that while we have some way to go we are on course to achieve this goal."

Each trust is given a rating ranging from zero to three on a range of performance indicators based around financial management, clinical care, patient access and care and staff relations.

Targets for ambulance trusts include response times while PCTs are assessed in areas including waiting times, smoking cessation services and access to GPs.

Brighton and Sussex Hospitals failed to meet the target for the length of time patients wait in A&E and has performed significantly below average with cancelled operations and delayed discharges.

The trust was created in April 2002 following the merger of Brighton Health Care and Mid Sussex.

Chief executive Stuart Welling said: "The first year of a brand new organisation is bound to be difficult.

"I would have liked us to have achieved two stars but the pressures on our hospitals have been significant.

"An increase in the number of seriously ill patients and the high number of delayed discharges has made achievement of some of the targets difficult.

"The rating doesn't reflect all the many efforts that our staff made in this first year."

Ken Cunningham, chief executive of Surrey and Sussex Healthcare, said: "The star ratings are an important measure of hospital performance and I am delighted that our excellent clinical performance has been recognised.

"But the targets need to be considered carefully. They are a measure of what is not achieved, not what is achieved, so they do not accurately reflect the enormous strides forward the trust has made, particularly in waiting times, clinical governance and financial management."

Sussex Ambulance failed to hit its target for answering 999 Category A calls within eight minutes.

Chief executive David Griffiths said: "I am disappointed our management capacity is stretched to such an extent that some of our plans have not progressed as far as we would have wished."

Other ratings in Sussex included one star for Worthing and Southlands and two for Royal West Sussex and East Sussex Hospitals.

West Sussex Health and Social Care, which provides mental health and community services across the county, was awarded one star for its first year.