NHS hospital trusts are looking forward to employ staff overseas. This is due to the lack of British-Trained nurses. They want the wards of hospital adequately staffed.

A minimum of 40 hospitals of the 105 hospital trusts in England that responded to a Freedom of Information request by Nursing Times have actively employed staff from abroad in the past 12 months. An additional 41 trusts said they have decided to employ nurses from overseas in the next 12 months.

About 1,000 of the total 1,360 latest recruits from overseas came from Spain and Portugal. Nursing managers are being sent to recruitment fairs by the trusts on the Continent.

"This is symptomatic of the short-term, boom-and-bust workforce planning which is endemic in the NHS", said Dr. Peter Carter, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing.

About 200 opening for nurses are there in Nottingham University Hospitals Trust at present.

According to her, competition for staff from private and community providers, large numbers of nurses approaching retirement in future and a lack of training places was held responsible.

Spain and Portugal have proved to be the most admired countries. These countries aimed at trusts looking for nurses.