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The forthcoming green paper on adult services is expected to work towards community care minister Stephen Ladyman's vision of empowering clients to determine the care they receive.

Yet it is within this political climate that the Healthcare Commission last week dropped its indicator on mental health trusts giving patients copies of their enhanced care plans.

The indicator is one of 14 that the commission has dropped to reduce the information that trusts have to collect. Unlike other indicators, this group, which has been cut from 24 to 10, requires data produced for the star ratings that would not otherwise have been selected.

The commission justifies the move by saying that the indicator has done its job "to a certain extent". A spokesperson says that it is no longer a useful way of comparing trusts' performance because, according to the 2003-4 star ratings, many trusts are now giving most patients copies of their plans. It also insists that the change does not mean that the commission is moving away from empowering service users.

But Peter Beresford, chair of service user involvement group Shaping Our Lives, argues that, even if only a few people are not receiving copies of their plans - a requirement of the National Service Framework for Mental Health - this is too many. "Most is not good enough and it [the indicator] has to be there until that gap has been filled," he says.

Paul Corry, director of campaigns and communications at mental health charity Rethink, disputes the commission's figures. "It is simply not the case that most service users say that they have a written copy of their care plan and have been involved in its development. Until that gap is closed, it would be useful for service providers to be held accountable for showing that they are increasing service user involvement," he says.

Anne Beales, director of service-user-involvement at mental health charity Maca, believes dropping the indicator calls into question the commission's commitment to the care programme approach. This is seen as the cornerstone of mental health policy as it involves the development of the care plan and gives patients more influence over their treatment.

The Healthcare Commission's decision is particularly troubling given the rumours of its future merger with the Commission for Social Care Inspection at a time when the CSCI is trying to change the way it carries out inspections and give more attention to the experiences of service users.

Although the Department of Health's review of arm's length bodies, published in December, does not outline an immediate merger, it says that the CSCI and the Healthcare Commission must continue to work closely in the "long-term direction of travel towards combined health and social care inspection".

Commenting on a possible merger Beresford says: "The worry is that the CSCI does seem to be trying hard to emphasise service-user involvement. The record of social care has been much stronger [in doing this] than it has been for the NHS," he says.

But a spokesperson for the Healthcare Commission insists its aims do not go against those of the CSCI. He points to a concordat, published last June, between the main health care inspection, review and audit bodies in England, including the CSCI, on working together on inspection.

The Healthcare Commission will stop producing star ratings in their current format this year and is holding a public consultation on how health care organisations should be assessed in future. Calls for a reinstatement of the indicator may feature in several submissions.