Letter: In brief

Sir: The president of the NHS Consultants' Association deplores the reduction in beds that occurs when hospitals are built under the Private Finance Initiative (letter, 26 May). Companies put shareholders' profits before patients' needs, and so bed numbers are cut. Another concern is that the reputable British consortium that builds and owns a PFI hospital may sell it to foreign companies, which could have an undisclosed record of fraudulent practice. Such companies are at liberty to debase the working conditions of hospital porters and cleaners.

Dr M I HEATLEY

Oxford