RECRUITMENT to fill nursing vacancies in Gwent is set to expand to the Philippines this month.

With registered nurses having been added to the UK's shortage occupation list, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board can now look beyond the European Union in its quest to increase its staff and cut expensive agency bills.

Nurses have been recruited from the Philippines into hospital and other posts in Gwent before, though UK Government-imposed restrictions, currently lifted, mean this has not happened for several years.

Gwent's health board has been running a concerted nurse recruitment programme for several months.

In addition to recruiting locally, it has also taken on staff from countries across Europe, including Spain, Italy and Romania. More than 100 have so far been recruited from overseas.

A year ago, the health board reported more than 230 nursing vacancies, a situation that was driving a steep increase in agency staff costs.

The issue is not confined to Gwent, and the drive for safe staffing levels on hospital wards, and a reduction in training posts in Wales - which will continue to have an effect in the medium term - are also issues which are forcing health boards to look abroad.

The cost of using agency nurses to fill gaps in rotas in Gwent was around £6.5 million during 2014/15, with the bulk of that expenditure coming during last winter. During the first nine months of 2015/16 (to December) that figure was surpassed, with the busy winter months still to come.

Many of the new recruits are now in post, but there is an upfront cost associated with bringing in staff from overseas, with delays often of up to three months after recruitment before they can practise due to the requirements of registration, and with language skills.

In the meantime, they are paid, but there is still a need to use agency staff, but the health board hopes to have most recruits fully up and working by the end of March.

The health board is also boosting its own 'bank' of staff available to work extra time, and is exploring the potential of trying to attract nurses who have left the profession to return to practice.