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.

They are all against PFI and claim it will damage patient care while the NHS struggles to pay back loans at the expense of staff and facilities.

They are now asking all candidates whether their respective parties would be willing to reverse the current policy and use public money to build new hospitals instead.

Margaret Stanton, spokes- man for the Oxfordshire health service branch of the MSF, said: "These loans have to be the NHS' first priority, so there will be less money for staff and other necessities. It's going to affect the public, which is why we are campaigning so hard.

"Everyone is upset about it - doctors, nurses, lab staff and non-medical staff."