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Health Secretary John Reid has called on nurses to not only be at the frontline of delivering patient care but also at the frontline of running the NHS.

In a speech to nursing managers at the Chief Nursing Officer's conference in Brighton he praised the work of nurses and set out his vision for the nurses of the future.

Mr Reid said:

"I want to encourage a new generation of entrepreneurial nurses. Being an entrepreneur means being prepared to take some risks. Nurses who will on every occasion, at every time, recognise that this person is different from the last patient and needs something new, something different that will ensure better care. The characteristics of these entrepreneurial nurses are that they take the initiative, creating and implementing new ideas.

"In my vision nurses are winning contracts to provide services under the new enhanced GMS service provision, they are running practices - let's have more nurses employing more doctors. Nurses are commissioned to run integrated care services for diabetes or heart failure patients.

Mr Reid also called on nurse directors to help make these changes and support nurses to go as far as they can.

He said:

"Nurses and midwives need to be supported to take risks safely, be less rule bound, less hierarchical. Encourage them to be confident and to know that their skills are what patients need and that they have an equal place at the top table and the bedside.

Following the end of the patient choice consultation earlier this week Mr Reid reiterated the key role that nurses have to play in extending choice and helping patients to exercise choice.

He said:

"We need to fundamentally transform the NHS by giving and extending choice. Nursing and midwifery has a central part to play in this transformation because you are close to people - you listen to them and they listen to you. Patients must play a bigger role in their health care and your help is vital in helping them to learn how to manage their condition."

Mr Reid also announced that independent nurse prescribing would be expanded with the addition of a further 10 new medical conditions and more than 30 additional medicines to the list, which Extended Formulary nurse prescribers can prescribe. These conditions include acute attacks of asthma and animal and human bites. He also made clear that nurse prescribing would be further extended next year to include emergency care.

He said:

"By opening up the prescription pad to nurses we have given them a powerful and symbolic tool. One that makes choice a reality for patients - for the young person wanting emergency contraception, for the terminally ill patient being cared for at home by the nursing team. If someone chooses to see a nurse in A&E, the surgery or the Walk in centre it isn't much of a choice if you are told 'Wait here and I'll get the doctor write you a prescription' or 'Come back tomorrow to see the doctor. My vision is that non-medical prescribing moves into the mainstream. Nurse prescribing sends a powerful message to the public and others that nursing is not subservient to medicine but an equal part of the healthcare team."

Mr Reid also reassured the audience that the Government has listened to your requests for stronger representation on NHS Foundation Trust Boards and has amended the BIll so they will have a director who is a nurse or midwife.