May 23: Eight organisations have penned a hard-hitting letter to parliamentary candidates in Oxford demanding their views on a scheme to privatise city hospital buildings.
The letter asks contenders for the two city seats - Oxford West/Abingdon and Oxford East - whether their party would scrap the Private Finance Initiative.
Under PFI, hospitals are built using private money. The NHS then pays rent to the financiers, who own the buildings and employ ancillary staff, over 30 years.
Plans for hospital redevelopment in Oxford will cost a minimum of £100m, including improvements at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, and re-locating the Radcliffe Infirmary to new units at the John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals.
Representatives from the British Medical Association, Oxford and District Trade Union Council, Unison, NHS Consultants' Association, Royal College of Nursing, Oxfordshire Pensioners' Action Group, Oxfordshire Community Health Council and the Manufacturing, Scientific and Finance union (MSF) have signed the letter.
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