TWENTY four nurses are making their way over from Spain to boost numbers at Ipswich Hospital.The nurses will be arriving in September and will help to fill vacancies.

TWENTY four nurses are making their way over from Spain to boost numbers at Ipswich Hospital.

The nurses will be arriving in September and will help to fill vacancies.

With the expansion of the hospital and more new wards being built, extra staff are needed.

Jan Rowsell, spokeswoman for the Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust said that the vacancy rate at the hospital is relatively low at four per cent, compared to the rest of the country.

She said: "We have invested lots of money into increasing staff levels.

"But that does not mean to say there are not shortages in certain areas where there are national shortages."

Ms Rowsell said that where possible the hospital always likes to work above the minimum required amount of staff per ward in a bid to give the patients the best possible care.

This is not the first time that foreign nurses have come over to work in Ipswich as others have come over from the Philippines.

Ms Rowsell said: "The important thing is we are not taking nurses away from a country that also has shortages.

"In Spain and the Philippines there are enough nurses for them to make a career choice.

"Most of our Philippine nurses have stayed with us – out of about 50 or 60 nurses only four have gone home.

"They have made a huge contribution to the hospital and care passionately about the patients."

All nurses coming over from other countries have to be at a certain level of speaking English before they are considered for the posts.

Ms Rowsell said: "They will be able to speak English well but there will also be opportunities for nurses to develop their skills.

"Being able to speak, read and write the language well is extremely important for them to be able to fill in nursing records.

"There is a level that the nurses would have to meet before they are even selected for interview."

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