More nurses from abroad

The foundation trust spent £3.5 million on bank and agency employees in the first two months of this financial year — £2.5 million above its planned amount.

This followed a total of £13 million during the previous 12 months on temporary nursing, midwifery and other medical employees.

The Care Quality Commission inspection report, published this week, said: “Planned staffing levels were not being achieved on some wards. This was impacting heavily on staff morale and retention.”

Twenty-eight Croatian nurses were hired in June, joining another 28 who arrived from Italy, Spain and Romania earlier this year.

More from Croatia will take the overseas tally to 70 within weeks — and the policy of looking to the continent will not stop there.

Taking account of staff retention rates, a new cohort of 30 foreign nurses could be brought in three times a year, according to chief nurse Tracey McErlain-Burns (pictured).

She said: “We keep our nurse staff level under constant review and report to the board twice a year. We’ve seen an increase in the need for nurses and made an investment of £1.4 million.”

Trust chief executive Louise Barnett said: “We’ve been successful in recruiting from overseas.

“But taking them on is only part of the action we’re taking. We’re not closing the doors on newly-qualified nurses from universities more locally.”

Staff absence — one reason for the reliance on agencies — was more than double the trust’s three per cent target when the CQC visited.

Mrs Barnett said better health support had been put in place to help colleagues back to work.

In a report to the board in June, deputy chief nurse Anne Crompton said the overseas arrivals were helping matrons to boost areas with staff shortfalls and minimise risks.

She added that the overall balance sheet was very much in line with the plan, even though bank and agency costs remain higher than 12 months ago.