article_snippet: Experts say that as many as one in 20 nursing posts in NHS is currently vacant which is equivalent to 20,000 nurses.
article_snippet: The shortfall has come about because the number of training places was cut by the Government in 2010 meaning there are fewer ‘home grown’ nurses coming up through the system.
article_snippet: Nevertheless it is highly unusual for managers to recruit such a large batch of overseas nurses from one country in such a short space of time.
article_snippet: But experts say the increasing reliance on foreign nurses is only a short-term fix as many end up returning to foreign nurses home countries after a few years.
article_snippet: There are also concerns that foreign nurses English is not good enough to cope on busy wards and that foreign nurses lack an understanding of how the NHS works.
article_snippet: Councillor David Drew, Labour Parliamentary candidate for Stroud, Gloucestershire and a member of the Gloucestershire health scrutiny overview committee said: ‘I suppose Councillor David Drew, Labour Parliamentary candidate for Stroud, Gloucestershire and a member of the Gloucestershire health scrutiny overview committee can recruit from abroad but that is not sustainable in the long term.
article_snippet: Last month an investigation found that one in six overseas nurses are quitting within two years of arriving in the UK.
article_snippet: Freedom of Information requests by Nursing Times also showed that at one hospital, Aintree, in Liverpool, all of the 14 nurses hired from Spain last year have already left.
article_snippet: Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said at the time: 'The last couple of years have seen increasingly desperate attempts to plug the gap with more nurses from overseas, who have undoubtedly made a huge contribution and kept the NHS afloat. '
article_snippet: Some of the sums spent on recruiting staff have been ludicrous and the fact that Trusts are not able to keep hold of Some of the sums spent on recruiting staff is a natural result of years of lackadaisical workforce planning in the NHS.'
highlights_snippet: Experts say as many as one in 20 nursing NHS posts are currently vacant .