Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust to recruit 95 more nurses

The trust said it had tended to spend a "considerable amount of its budget" on temporary staff

A Shropshire hospital trust is to employ 95 new nurses as part of a £3.5m recruitment drive.

The Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust said it had taken on 14 staff since November to work at the Princess Royal and Royal Shrewsbury hospitals.

It said it was to recruit from the Irish Republic because a shortage of qualified nurses in England.

Nursing director Sarah Bloomfield said: "We will struggle if we only try to recruit locally or in this country."

"The local area has a finite amount of resources and the community trusts and practices also need nurses, its not just the hospitals," she added.

Ms Bloomfield said the trust had tended to spend a "considerable amount of its budget" on temporary and agency staff.

She said the hospital wanted "more permanent staff to get continuity of care for patients".