Bradford looks set to receive more overseas nurses as the country's hospitals continue to face a recruitment crisis despite increases in pay.

Discussions are under way to draft nurses from Finland into Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust to work in the improved accident and emergency department and new operating theatres later this year.

The move follows similar recruitment three years ago when 35 Finnish nurses came to Bradford on two-year contracts.

Most of them have now returned but 27-year-old Effie Lanpinen chose to stay in Bradford to be with her English boyfriend. She now works in the renal unit at BRI.

"It was quite scary at first even though we studied English at school," she said. "It was difficult to understand the accent.

"All the staff and patients were quite tolerant and I can't remember having any real problems. I just like it here."

Chief nurse Rose Stephens said the trust had no choice but to go overseas as a last resort.

"The nurses we took from Finland before were very successful. We will look to recruit them as we develop services because there simply aren't the nurses around in this country."

She added that managers worked hard to recruit and retain permanent UK trained nurses, taking account of personal preferences and offering training in different departments.

Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital currently have 34 nursing vacancies out of a total of 1,500 jobs. Along with Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, Finland is one of the main sources of foreign nurses because of its similarities in health systems and training.

Latest figures show overseas nurses making up three per cent of the UK nursing workforce with areas such as inner London employing up to 30 per cent.

Bradford's lead steward for the Royal College of Nursing, Helen Alderman, said it was an expensive way of staffing and called for a realistic pay structure.

"Bradford hospitals are badly understaffed - they wouldn't be going abroad for nurses if it wasn't so. To get managers and recruitment teams abroad is more expensive.

"But people won't come to nursing any more. They can earn more money with other degrees. Nursing needs a reward at the end of it, otherwise they go into other careers and I don't blame them."

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