A plan to move nurses in and soldiers out of a central London barracks in order to provide affordable housing is currently being discussed by the Ministry of Defence and Department of Health.

The government has promised to recruit an extra 35,000 nurses, midwives and health professionals by 2008 and ministers have admitted that more affordable homes are needed for London and the south east.

In an interview with today's Telegraph, Beverley Malone, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: "The barracks are very nice. I think nurses would be willing to live there."