For senior staff nurse Karen Mullan the new accommodation at East Central House has come as a godsend. Karen, who works in haematology at University College Hospital London, was living in a nursing home but since she got engaged had been desperately searching for a larger home for herself and her boyfriend.

She applied for a flat but knew she could be waiting for another couple of years before that materialised and was starting to turn her attention to the private sector when a letter arrived giving her the option of a double room at East Central House.

When she spoke to HSJ, she had only just moved into her new home, but she was clearly impressed.

The new accommodation consists of a double room with en-suite shower and toilet facilities plus a shared kitchen area - and just as important, It is clean and secure.

'The nursing home I was in was probably pretty modern compared to most, ' says Karen, 'but there was always something going wrong and it took a long time for things to get fixed. And the cleaning wasn't that fantastic. '

She's also delighted not to have to share a bathroom or a corridor phone - phone facilities should be available in her new home within the next month. There is even a garden area, which is almost unheard of for NHS accommodation in the city.

At£550 a month the rent works out as slightly higher than what she was paying in the nurses' home, but in Karen's view It is well worth it. 'This is certainly not typical nursing accommodation. A lot of nurses' homes are old and run down, which is one of the reasons people do not want to live there. But this is different. So far I am impressed. '