A nurse who vowed to "fiercely challenge" MP Iain Duncan Smith at the general election has now said she will not be standing due to "work pressures". 

Kathryn Anderson, a pain management nurse at Hampstead’s Royal Free Hospital, announced in September she would stand as a candidate for the newly-formed National Health Action (NHA) party in Chingford and Woodford Green. 

Her campaign was to defend people affected by welfare policies and NHS cuts introduced by the coalition government. 

She said: "It was with great difficulty that I made the decision to stand down as a candidate for the NHA party in Chingford and Woodford Green. 

"You may be aware that I am a nurse in the NHS and I found that the combination of pressures of work and the changes happening within the NHS meant that I wouldn't be able to give the time or energy that I wanted to give to the campaign. 

"The irony of this hasn't eluded me.

"I remain a very strong supporter and member of the NHA party, because I feel that they are the only political party who are able to see the whole picture regarding the destruction and privatisation of our NHS and the effects not only on the healthcare service directly, but the effects on the wider community, indeed the whole country." 

The NHA party was launched in 2012 by doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals in protest at the government’s NHS reforms, particularly the Health and Social Care bill.

Ms Anderson said the decision was not influenced by her position in the NHS. 

The party will be contesting twelve seats in May's election, including health secretary Jeremy Hunt's in south-west Surrey and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg's in Sheffield Hallam.