A Bradford nurse is spearheading a national campaign to recruit more people amid fears over a growing shortage of nurses.

Salma Yasmeen, 24, a community mental health nurse in Bradford, was among only three nurses from the Northern and Yorkshire region selected to address more than 100 health service chiefs at the launch of the Department of Health-backed campaign in Newcastle.

The national recruitment drive aims to attract more nurses and midwives to the health service and encourage people who have left the profession to return.

The Royal College of Nursing has claimed the number of new nurses has now fallen to its lowest level since the NHS was set up 50 years ago, blaming the recruitment problems on low pay and falling morale.

Miss Yasmeen said she told them about her reasons for joining the profession and her role working as part of the home treatment service in Bradford, set up two years ago.

She was part of a team which assessed people with serious mental health problems or facing a severe crisis like bereavement as an alternative to admitting them to Lynfield Mount Hospital.

She was given a high level of responsibility in making decisions about patients as part of the service which had proved highly successful in Bradford in allowing people to stay at home.

"I am really enjoying being part of it - it is a really supportive team here," she said. "There is a lot of contact with people and such a diversity of clients you come across.

"You are quite autonomous and have to make decisions for yourself.

"I would say if you like working with people, can come up with a lot of ideas and enjoy a challenge it really is the job for you."

Latest figures show there are about 60 nursing vacancies at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke's Hospital in Bradford while Bradford Community Health NHS Trust, which runs mental health and community nursing services, has nine vacancies.

A community trust spokeswoman said initiatives to recruit more people into nursing included working with Bradford University to develop a course for people returning to the profession after five years or more.

Rose Stephens, chief nurse at Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust, said there were problems recruiting staff in Bradford, particularly newly-qualified nurses, which were reflected across the country and efforts now had to be made nationwide to attract new staff.

Improved links had also been established with local schools to try to encourage pupils to look at the health service as a career.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.