Ambulance bosses are routinely making a 21,500-mile round trip to Australia to hire paramedics on £4,500 ‘ golden hello ’ payments because it is far cheaper than training them in Britain . Managers from the London Ambulance Service , the largest in the NHS , have just filled 225 vacant posts with applicants from Sydney and Melbourne . They were recruited on the back of a series of practical demonstrations on dummies , a written exam and an interview that lasted in all between four and six hours . Ambulance bosses are routinely making a 21,500-mile round trip to Australia to hire paramedics on £4,500 ‘ golden hello ’ payments . The selection process , held at five-star hotels , was so quick that by 8am the next day applicants had received an email informing them if they had a job . It is the latest example of how the NHS is recruiting overseas because it has failed to train enough staff in Britain to meet the needs of the rising and ageing population . Hospital managers have been flying out to Spain and Portugal to hire batches of 30 nurses at a time . The ambulance service is also severely understaffed and , across England , around 1,250 posts are unfilled – a tenth of what is needed . The Mail attended a fast-track recruitment event last month at the five-star Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel , overlooking the famous Opera House . Our investigation discovered how : . Growing numbers of paramedics are quitting the NHS . Many are frustrated at having to spend hours queuing outside A & E units which are too full to accept their patients . They are also being called out to a growing number of non-urgent calls from patients unable to see a GP . The selection process , held at five-star hotels , was so quick that by 8am the next day applicants had received an email informing them if they had a job . The increasing demand on ambulances means they are taking longer to reach the seriously ill. As a result , many paramedics are choosing to take up posts as ‘ advanced practitioners ’ in A & E , GP surgeries and call centres for the 111 helpline where the work is less stressful and they can earn more . London Ambulance Service has been the hardest hit by this exodus . Currently 340 posts are vacant , a fifth of the total workforce needed . Last year alone more than 230 paramedics quit . However , Australia has a surplus.Other understaffed ambulance services in the UK are also going abroad , including to Poland . As well as the 225 paramedics hired from Australia last month , London Ambulance Service hired 175 from there and New Zealand in September . Managers are considering flying out again later this year and calculate that the first recruitment drive saved the NHS £9million . It costs £50,000 to train one paramedic in Britain . Each trip to Australia costs the ambulance service £90,000 in flights and hotel bills , but they return having hired on average 200 paramedics . They are offered a £30,200 salary including London weighting . Jason Killens , director of operations at London Ambulance Service , said : ‘ It ’ s not our long-term solution but is helping us fill a skills shortage while we train more people to become paramedics in the UK. ’ He said the paramedics had initially been filtered via an online form . Tim Jones is one of the many Australians being lured to Britain to work as a paramedic . He will join the London Ambulance Service when he finishes his degree course in October . The 22-year-old said it was ‘ exciting helping people ’ , but also hopes it will enable him to see more of Europe . He said : ‘ It was pitched as a lifestyle and a job – they really sold it to me. ’ He said friends who were offered jobs in September ‘ are absolutely loving it ’ – including having the chance to see the Tour de France . A lifestyle and a job : Tim Jones , left , during a skills test last month held at Sydney Harbour Marriot Hotel . Kate Tranter and fiancé Will Skelly , from Sydney , will move over together in the hope of furthering their careers . Miss Tranter said : ‘ We are big travellers so it will be a good adventure together . We will spend a minimum of two years there. ’ Mr Skelly said : ‘ I ’ ve always wanted to go to London as a paramedic because you get a variety of work and then you can shoot off to Spain for the weekend. ’ Celia Potter , 23 , from Katoomba in the Blue Mountains , New South Wales , said she was encouraged to move to London after talking to friends given jobs in September . She said : ‘ One friend said they are thrown straight into it , but you also get a mentor for the first year which is good . ’
Managers from the London Ambulance Service just filled 225 vacant posts . Applicants all from Spain and Melbourne recruited after one day of tests . Latest example of how NHS recruits overseas as it fails to train staff in UK . Hospital managers have been hiring batches of 30 nurses on trips to Sydney . Paramedics are being offered £4,500 ‘ golden hellos ’ if they agree to move to Britain within three months . Managers are so anxious to fill posts that 91 per cent of those who turned up to assessments were offered jobs . Applicants told the Mail they had been promised a ‘ new lifestyle ’ that would enable them to gain valuable experience , visit distant relatives and ‘ shoot off ’ to Sydney for the weekend . The few paramedics who didn ’ t get jobs when managers first flew out in September were so keen they returned for the latest round of recruitment days – and vowed to turn up a third time if they still weren ’ t hired . Managers claim they can save the NHS £9million by flying out to Australia rather than training paramedics in Britain .