EAST Lancashire nurses are said to support a vote of ‘no confidence’ in the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.

Around 96per cent of 497 delegates at a Royal College of Nursing (RCN) conference, in Liverpool, voted in favour of the unprecedented motion.

The move was in opposition to his controversial shake-up of the health service, which will see GPs given control of much of the NHS budget and greater competition with the private sector encouraged.

Jonathan Bowker, the RCN’s Lancashire organiser, said the vote reflected the feelings of union members.

He said: “Our members are very concerned about whether the reforms are workable, and whether patients are actually going to suffer because of what might come from them.

"I think this is because this is on the back of a series of what we would describe as cuts, because funding for the NHS isn’t increasing in real terms.”