Angry: Prentis

Health workers have issued a damning indictment of new hospitals built with PFI schemes.

Workers at nine new hospitals claim in a report that they are having to deal with bed shortages, lower levels of patient care and poorly designed buildings.

These are just some of the findings in the study published by Unison, which represents public sector workers and is a vocal opponent of the schemes which allow private companies to run hospitals.

The union's report, which will prove embarrassing for ministers, claims nursing staff are being pressured to discharge patients more quickly because of shortages, and says several hospitals that have opened since 2000 are set to build extensions because they do not have enough capacity.

Staff criticised the quality of building materials and slammed many of the designs as "cheap and nasty".

Unison repeated the demand made at the Labour Party conference last autumn for an independent review into all PFI projects.

Ahead of the union's conference in Harrogate next week, Unison general secretary Dave Prentis accused ministers of ignoring a growing problem.

"The government are sticking their heads in the sand about the growing financial costs of PFI. But if they won't listen to us when we say PFI is failing miserably, perhaps they will listen to the staff on the frontline," he said.

"They are telling us loud and clear it is not delivering improvements in patient care and it is not benefiting staff

"The report is a damning indictment of the whole PFI process. It is tragic that such a large and welcome hospital investment programme should have produced such universally poor results."