Shropshire hospitals looking to EU for nurses
Shropshire's hospitals are being forced to look abroad after struggling to recruit enough nurses to fill vacancies and reduce the need to hire expensive agency staff.
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust currently employs just over 700 staff nurses at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford.
But they are still short of nearly 60 full-time nurses, and figures show that nearly £750,000 was spent in June alone to hire agency nurses to fill the gaps at the two sites.
Now a recruitment drive for new staff nurses is under way, with the search stretching to across the UK and as far as Portugal and Spain.
It comes as part of a recognised national shortage of staff nurses which affects hospitals right across the UK.
Sarah Bloomfield, director of nursing and quality at the trust, said: "We are looking to recruit new staff nurses locally and will also be looking at recruitment in other parts of the country and on mainland Europe.
"The care of our patients is at the heart of everything we do and we're looking for caring and compassionate people who want to provide the best care possible at our hospitals."
John Kirk, trust spokesman, said: "Overseas recruitment like this is just one avenue we are exploring. We are also looking to recruit locally and elsewhere in the UK.
"It will be an ongoing process of recruitment to reduce our current spending on agency staff."
Trust staff will be at recruitment events in Glasgow on October 22. The trust is also working with Staffordshire University on a "Return to Practice" programme aimed at former nurses. Find about more about vacancies at jobs.nhs.uk
The trust also wants to recruit more healthcare assistants and will be holding information days on Monday at the PRH and Friday at the RSH.
