The board of the RCN has voted in favour of the idea of a regional government after considering presentations from both sides.

Although we are a trade union, we are a-political, so we went out of our way to consider all the arguments. We asked representatives of the Yes campaign and of Neil Herron's No campaign to come along and address us.

To obtain an idea of how a regional government would work, we also researched its effect in London, and, after taking a year to consider the various issues, the board decided in favour of the Yes campaign because we feel it represents the best chance to influence the health economy.

For example, one of the key benefits of a regional government for the North-East would be to develop a strategic vision to develop the quality of life by developing the economy. A strong economy does have a beneficial knock-on effect on the health of an area.

We also felt that a regional government would be able to influences areas such as housing and transport.

In the South-East, nurses are unable to buy houses because prices are rising so rapidly. Things are not quite that bad in the North-East but prices have been going up rapidly and we do not want to lose nurses who would otherwise work in the North-East because they are unable to find somewhere to live.

A regional government could help do something about that by developing a housing strategy.

We also feel a regional government would be able to influence public transport.

The majority of regular health service users rely on public transport to get to their GPs and hospitals. A regional government could develop a public transport policy to ensure the services are there to make that possible.

The RCN also welcomes the scrutiny role of a regional government, allowing it to review services. That is an important part of its job.

Regional government is a fantastic opportunity and we are saying to our members: "here is the information on the Yes and No campaigns, please make sure you use your vote and do not ignore the opportunity."

"We cannot tell our members how to vote but we are saying that this is the way the Northern board of the RCN thinks."

* Glenn Turp is the regional director for the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the trade union for more than 16,500 nurses in the Northern region.