Nurses say a government scheme to help them afford homes is already out of money for the year, and only covers those working in the South-East.

Here, nurses explain their dilemma.

Stuart is a senior staff nurse in London. He is eligible for the scheme but said it still did not give him enough to afford a decent home in London.

"I have been thinking about leaving nursing for something better paid - maybe something in the travel industry. One of the reasons is because I'm 33 years old and can't afford my own home," he said.

"I have been evicted from nurses' accommodation twice because they were closed down and I'm now paying �505 a month for a matchbox.

"Even if I moved out of London and went back home to Derby, I'd be priced out there too."

Laura, 23, works at the Royal Leeds Infirmary and is not eligible for a key worker loan.

"It seems extremely unfair that I'm excluded from the scheme because I am not nursing in the South.

"Practically all my wages go on housing and transport to work.

"I love nursing and am not considering leaving - but if over the next 10 years I could still couldn't afford to buy a home, I'd have to take on another job to earn extra income."

Phynus, a mother of two 13-year-old twins, is a South African nurse working in the UK on a work permit. The key worker scheme is not open to foreign nurses.

A quarter of the capital's nurses are from abroad and experts have warned that the NHS could collapse without them.

Over the last four years, 60,000 foreign nurses have registered to work in the UK. Four-fifths of them work outside the capital.

"Living under these conditions is very difficult," Phynus said. "I have a boy and a girl - both teenagers - and there's no privacy here but I have little choice."

Veronica is a practise nurse at a GP's surgery in London.

She was told she was not eligible for the scheme because there was too much equity in the home she shares with her husband and two children.

The scheme was enhanced earlier this year to allow nurses to upgrade an existing home to one more suitable for their family.

"I'm really angry that I'm not entitled to any government support to get on the next rung of the property ladder," she said.