NURSING agencies say recruiting hospital staff from abroad is leaving them in a no-win situation.

This weekend, Filipino nurses will arrive at the University Hospital of North Durham to fill 40 full-time vacancies for nurses.

They are the latest influx of medical staff recruited from abroad to make up staff shortages in the region's hospitals.

Nurses from Spain are now working in the heart unit at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, German consultants are being lined up to fill vacant hospital posts, and in July six Spanish GPs arrived in the region.

North-East nursing agencies say they would also like to employ foreign nurses to tackle the national shortage, but regulations prevent them from doing so.

Barbara Madigan, owner of Abacus Care, in Darlington, and a qualified nurse, said the growing trend to plug staff shortages with foreign nurses had noticeably affected her business in the past two years.

She said: "It takes a lot of work away from us because we're not allowed to recruit nurses on a foreign work permit.

"So it does affect us quite badly. It's a no-win situation."

Even with the reduced amounts of shifts on offer, Barbara Madigan said they still barely managed to fit in all the work.

Another woman who works for a nursing agency, who did not wish to be named, said they would also like to recruit nurses but red tape made it very difficult.

She said: "If you take people on a foreign work permit it has to tally with UK legislation. We've got to be very, very careful."

But nursing union Unison said it welcomed the trend towards employing foreign staff because paying for agency staff was a drain on NHS funds.

Regional officer Trevor Johnston said: "One local trust has a deficit of £500,000 a year on agency nursing and that's the problem with recruiting nurses from agencies. Obviously we're much in favour of full staffing."

A spokeswoman for North Durham Health Care NHS Trust said they would welcome applications for jobs from local people, but had been unable to fill the vacancies being taken up by the Filipino nurses.