We have to make it worthwhile both for nurses to work in the NHS

Health Secretary Alan Milburn

Chancellor Gordon Brown announced that an extra penny would be added to national insurance contributions to inject �40bn into the NHS.

Nurses want some of what they are calling "Milburn's millions" to boost pay in order to help with recruitment and retention of staff.

Nursing sister Catherine Shandley said of Mr Milburn's visit to the RCN conference: "I'd like him to listen to us, the nurses, to see how we see the health service moving."

She told the BBC: "Let's talk about pay bringing nurses into the service."

Ambitious target

Mr Milburn pledged last week to recruit an extra 35,000 nurses for the health service by 2008.

Speaking to BBC News ahead of his RCN speech, the health secretary said the target was ambitious but achievable.

"Over the last few years we have got 31,000 more nurses working in the NHS so although 35,000 sounds like an awful lot more and it is - it is a very ambitious target but it is one that we can meet."

Nursing sister Catherine Shanley wants the Health Secretary to listen

But he added: "We have to make it worthwhile both for nurses to work in the NHS and to stay in the NHS."

However, health service managers have warned the government not to use the extra cash to fund large pay increases.

They say substantial rises would eat up all the extra cash and not produce the results ministers want.

Mr Milburn - whose conference address will be his first high-profile speech to the members of the medical profession since the Budget - is also said to favour the money being spent on training new staff, replacing outdated equipment and replacing old technology.

His speech comes as it emerged the NHS is facing a �4.4bn legal bill for medical negligence claims.

According to the National Audit Office, the figure is a huge rise on the �2.8bn bill of two years ago and a "significant drain" on NHS resources.

Earlier at the conference the government came under renewed pressure to improve NHS working conditions.

Roswyn Hakesley-Brown, president of the RCN told the congress that nurses felt" undervalued and underpaid".