NHS trust spends £19k on Philippines trip - but hires just THREE nurses

The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust conducted 115 candidate interviews whilst on the trip in April last year but turned away almost all of them.

The unsuccessful trip saw 108 'appointable' candidates turned away for failing to pass an English language test and not being able to pay the exam resit fee.

Council chiefs have described the trip as 'a total waste' and disputed the Government's role in the on-going NHS staffing crisis.

Dudley councillor Paul Brothwood said: "I think it's a sad reflection that they need to travel all the way to the Philippines to hire staff when we have perfectly good students here in Britain.

"It's a total waste of money but sadly it doesn't surprise me, the public financial sector is out of control.

"They need to look at UK staff as opposed to going abroad."

It comes as the trust have claimed their recruitment focus would now remain closer to home following the trip which they described as 'not successful'.

In a bid to recover from the trip's failure and tackle the issue Russells Hall hospital have taken on 60 nurses and midwives over the last few weeks.

Dudley council health boss Rachel Harris, said: "The issues that the trust along with other NHS organisations are facing is the direct result of the current lack of our own nurses in the system.

"The Government's decision to cancel bursaries for nurse training is going to mean that our local trusts will to keep going further afield to find suitably qualified staff.

"This is just the start of what will be an increasing pressure on our local health system.

"I think Dudley have had no other option but to try and find other nursing staff, with the Government removing the bursaries for nurses training they have cut the supply off by the knees.

"That's going to produce even more pressure in the long run."

The trust's realigned focus has seen them hire 10 new members of staff following a recruitment event held at Russells Hall on Thursday.

Commenting on the new plans, Siobhan Jordan, Interim chief nurse at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, said: "The £19,000 covered flights and accommodation at competitive rates for the recruitment team.

"International recruitment is no longer a significant part of Trust’s workforce strategy.

"We are now focusing on a sustainable recruitment plan that aims to attract a talented workforce from our own local population and the West Midlands.

"Our recent nurse recruitment event demonstrated a great deal of success with offers to ten nursing posts from candidates from the local area."