ALMOST 150 nurses successfully recruited from abroad will not be able to start work in Sussex until early next year.

Recent changes to immigration laws mean it will take longer than first expected for the new staff to join Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust.

The trust recently held a successful recruitment campaign in the Philippines which led to 149 nurses being offered jobs.

It had hoped to have the staff in place later this year but the changes, which came into force in April, mean there will be delays.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council, which has to register all nursing staff working in the UK, is also under pressure dealing with a surge in new recruits being brought in by hospitals across the country.

There is currently a national shortage of nurses which is forcing more hospitals to look further afield to fill vacancies.

The new nurses from abroad will also have to undergo rigorous English language tests before they start.

In a report to the trust board, director of organisational development Denise Farmer, said: “In order to mitigate the risk from this delay, we have booked a temporary supply of band 5 general and theatre nurses until March 2016.

"To date, 12 nurses have been booked across medicine and surgery and we will continue to source additional supply.”

Meanwhile domestic recruitment campaigns are continuing to take place at Worthing Hospital and St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester every six weeks to help boost numbers.

Trust chief executive Marianne Griffiths said: “This recruitment campaign is designed to help us overcome a shortfall of more than 20,000 trained nurses available to work in the UK.

“It has been more than a decade since teams from Worthing and St Richard’s last visited the country and many of the nurses recruited then, still live and work in West Sussex and refer to the UK as ‘home.”

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has also had successful campaigns abroad and in the UK while East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has focused on UK recruitment.