The bosses of four Greater Manchester hospitals are jetting staff to the Philippines and three European countries to recruit nurses due to a staffing crisis.
Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust, which runs Fairfield General Hospital, Bury, Oldham Royal, North Manchester General, and Rochdale Infirmary, is sending senior nurses and HR reps to Asia, plus Portugal, Spain, and Italy in June.
A group of three staff will be in the Philippines for a week from June 14, before three different delegations head out into Europe.
The trust has 216 nursing vacancies and says it aims to recruit a ‘high calibre’ of nurses.
It is taking action due to a national shortage of nurses but has refused to say how much the trips will cost.
However, existing staff have criticised management for spending cash on the trips and allege nurses currently on placements have been turned down for permanent posts.
Although Manchester is home to three universities which large nursing degree courses, NHS bosses said they had been forced to make the 7,000 miles recruitment drive to Philippines due to the lack of experienced staff.
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Kimberley Salmon-Jamieson, the trust’s deputy chief nurse, said: “We have over 4,000 nurses and midwives working at our four hospital sites and community services and there are currently 216 nursing vacancies across seven of our clinical specialities.
“In line with other NHS organisations and to further support our recruitment we have embarked on a campaign to recruit nurses to the Trust that share our values from home and abroad.
"This includes looking to recruit from the UK as well as in the Philippines, Spain, Italy and Portugal where we are sending two of our highly experienced senior nurses and an HR representative in June to ensure that we recruit the high calibre of nurses we expect.
“During a previous recruitment event in the Philippines the Trust successfully recruited a number of experienced nurses many of whom are still working with us today. On the back of this success we are intending to the return to Philippines on June 14th.
“Other strategies include recruitment events held for newly qualified nurses in November 2014 and March 2015, an open day in May 2015 to recruit A&E nurses, as well as a large event for Health Care Support Workers which is planned for May/early June this year.
“Our nurses and midwives working across The Trust have all made a commitment to provide the best possible patient care following the launch of a new nursing strategy called the ‘Three steps to Excellence’ and as part of this strategy there is a large focus on our workforce.
"The three year strategy seeks to enable the delivery of the very highest standards of nursing and midwifery care across the Trust’s four hospitals.”
'I am absolutely outraged...who is footing the bill?'
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Nurses have criticised the trips abroad as the Trust battles to balance its budget.
One member of staff said: “Not only are they going to the Philippines, they are also going to Italy, Portugal and Spain two managers and a rep from human resources going to each, they are going on June 23 for four days.
“I am absolutely outraged. We are told to cut back all the time, with wards running without essential supplies. And who is footing the bill for this?
“The union are fighting for a one per cent rise for staff and yet they can do this.
“I really think the public should be aware of the way the money is spent. We are always being told we are over £4m in debt at our hospital, I wonder why?”
The trust say different groups are being sent to each country so that the senior staff going are not absent from their hospitals for too long.
The groups aim to recruit full time staff - not agency staff, who would be more expensive.
The Trust says it has had to take action due to a national shortage of nurses caused by not enough being trained in recent years.