Shortages in nursing staff are leading employers to recruit professional staff from overseas, according to recruitment company Hays.

The most affected areas for nursing jobs are in critical care (ITU), Accident & Emergency, theatre and intensive care (ICU), with skill shortages also apparent for obstetrics and gynaecology, orthopaedics, anaesthetics and recovery nurses.

Approximately 60% of the nursing worker population is also due to retire over the next decade.

Simon Hudson, director of Hays Global Resourcing at Hays, said: "The available talent from abroad throws an important lifeline to the UK, given the pressing need for skilled nurses.

"Around 10% of nurses working in the UK have trained abroad and the shortage of skills can only be adequately filled by targeted international recruitment."

And the shortage of nurses is not just limited to the UK, with demand outstripping supply across the world, which in turn fuels a cyclical international movement of labour in the nursing profession.

Hays also reports UK nurses are leaving to go and work abroad, to destinations such as Canada, Australia, the Middle East and the United States.