So are nurses in this county worth more than in Leeds or Stockport or Bristol? No, of course they aren’t. Nurses up and down the country do an amazing job in hospitals, schools, prisons and the community, no matter what geographical area they happen to live and nurse in.

This is why the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is so against the idea of regional pay for nurses.

Some of your readers may have heard about a ‘cartel’ that has formed in the South West of the country. This cartel wants to reduce annual leave, increase working hours and make radical changes to other nationally agreed terms and conditions of employment. Staff who don’t agree face dismissal.

How is this fair? Nursing is a tough occupation no matter which setting you nurse in or in which part of the country.

The RCN in the South East is worried that this erosion of nationally agreed terms and conditions could have a lasting impact on nursing. We are asking nurses and members of the public to tell their regional MP why they think regional pay is wrong and ask them to raise it with the Secretary of State for Health: http://frontlinefirst.rcn.org.uk/mp-email

Patricia Marquis, Director, RCN South East Region