Nurses in London and the south east of England are to be offered cheap accommodation, loans and childcare to keep them in the profession.

There are 15,000 unfilled nursing posts in England, with 5,000 of them in London, with rising property prices blamed for extra recruitment problems there.

The government has promised an extra 20,000 nurses by 2005 as part of the NHS Plan.

Health Minister Lord Hunt said he was appointing a NHS housing co-ordinator - whose job would be to find 2,000 affordable accommodation places in London by the end of next year.

Three "staff hotels", as the Department of Health terms them, will provide places for staff to stay overnight or on a short-stay basis.

Former university halls of residence are to be converted into accommodation, and the government says it will offer cheaper home loans to nurses.

Nursery creation

The government also pledged the creation of more family-friendly policies for nurses, with new workplace nurseries set up at a cost of more than �30m.

The average subsidy, said the government, would be �30 per child place per week.

All current hospital building schemes are being reviewed to add nurseries where possible.

Lord Hunt said: "London and the south east have one of the highest vacancy rates in the country and this is in part due to expensive property prices, which are driving nurses out of London and out of the profession.

"By expanding NHS-sponsored and also on-site nursery provision and childcare arrangements, the NHS is making it easier for parents to choose to continue to work for the NHS."

A spokesman for the Royal College of Nursing: "There is an urgent need to find a way to bridge the gap between nurses' pay and mortgage costs in areas of high property prices."