British NHS plans to embark on ambitious international recruitment drive in search of nurses

BRITAIN'S National Health Service (NHS) plans to embark on an ambitious international recruitment drive in a desperate bid to get foreign nurses over the next five years as manpower shortages are straining the system.

Founded after World War Two, the British NHS was established as a free healthcare delivery service available to all and sundry. Staffing the service was problematic, however, so NHS bosses scoured Britain's former colonies in the Caribbean, Africa, Australia and Asia in search of nurses to man hospitals.

With massive improvements in healthcare and expectations also a lot higher, the NHS is now suffering from a chronic shortage of nurses once again, prompting managers to look for fresh staff to man wards. NHS leaders have conceded that exhausted doctors and nurses are being driven out of an overstretched health service because of a failure to plan for the extra staff needed to care for an ageing population.

They fear, however, that despite the international hiring campaign and promises to be nicer to present staff, there is little chance of ending shortages for at least five years. Countries to be targeted are likely to include the Philippines, India, Ireland and Australia, from where the NHS already recruits personnel.

It is believed that there are about 5,405 Nigerians working for the NHS, making them among the top 10 nationalities working for the service. This figure, however, does not include British-born Nigerians, who when they are added to the statistics, would make the number a lot higher.