The report highlighted staff criticism

Unison has published a report based on a series of interviews with nurses, porters, cooks, cleaners and clerical staff.

It is now is calling on the government to carry out an independent review to establish if PFI is delivering and whether it represents good value for taxpayers' money.

The study has been branded a "damning indictment of the whole PFI process" by union bosses.

Comments from staff in Scottish hospitals include:

• "I think this hospital has been built as cheaply and as nastily as possible," - a porter, Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride.

• "The final bed figure they settled on is 852. We used to have about 1200. ...So we've got bed shortages already and its going to get worse," - Unison rep, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

• "The place is manky, because the cleaners also have to do the beds and do the meals: those jobs come out of their cleaning time," - a nurse, Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride.

• "We have had several roof collapses so far and we are not even a year in," - Unison rep, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Jim Devine, Unison's Scottish organiser, said: "The recent BBC poll (on voter priorities) shows that people find it very important that hospitals and schools should be run by public authorities and not by private companies.

"These comments show how right they are to be concerned.

"In Scotland, NHS staff have increasingly been brought back in-house, a far more effective way to deliver a proper service, and what the people of Scotland want."

Concerns over bed shortages were raised

Perceived problems identified in the report covered bed shortages, reduced levels of patient care, financial problems and poor design and quality.

Unison said all the trusts visited were facing extremely serious financial problems, partly through the costs of PFI and partly as a result of the pressure on frontline capacity.

Some were reported to have lost vital nursing staff and were struggling to recruit and retain enough permanent staff to avoid running up hefty agency bills.

The UK-wide study was conducted for Unison by NHS pressure group London Health Emergency.