Nurses could get cash bonuses if a planned health authority merger goes ahead.

East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority and West Sussex Health Authority are expected to join with two Surrey health authorities next April.

Local health organisations are hoping the change will mean the Government will extend its annual bonus scheme to nurses working in East Sussex.

Nurses working in the West Sussex health authority area are given a bonus of up to £600 a year because West Sussex is classed as an expensive area to live.

A complicated calculation method for the bonus means nurses in the East Sussex, Brighton and Hove health authority area do not qualify despite the area, and the city in particular, having some of the highest house prices in the South-East.

South Downs Health NHS Trust, which employs nurses in the city and parts of Newhaven and Lewes, is hoping the merger will address the discrepancy.

Trust head of personnel Fiona Whiting, said: "The merger strengthens our case for the cost of living supplement.

"It would be very unfair if a large part of the new health authority area does not get it."

The trust, along with Brighton Health Care NHS Trust, is struggling to recruit and keep nursing staff who are taking up jobs across the border to benefit from the bonus.

Both organisations have joined forces with city MPs David Lepper, Ivor Caplin and Des Turner to call for the bonus scheme to be reassessed.

A Brighton Health Care Trust spokesman said: "We have been working on this for some time and are continuing to put the pressure on."

The trust employs more than 3,300 workers, the majority of whom are nursing staff.

The Department of Health is reviewing the bonus scheme and a decision is expected in the New Year.