New recruits

Philippines 7,235 South Africa 2,114 Australia 1,342 India 994 Zimbabwe 473 New Zealand 443

The Nursing and Midwifery Council is the regulatory body for nurses. Every nurse must be registered with the council before they are allowed to work in the UK.

Record numbers

According to the council, a record 41,656 nurses applied for registration in the 12 months to the end of March - up 43% on the previous year.

Of these applying, 13,721 were accepted on to the council's register - up a massive 63% on the previous year.

Almost half have been required to work under supervision for between one and six months before they were given full registration. Just 482 or 1% of the applicants were rejected outright.

These figures show just how much we are relying on nurses from overseas to provide care to patients

Beverly Malone, RCN

The figures show that the vast majority of the new nurses were originally trained in the Philippines, with 7,235 new nurses last year.

This is followed by South Africa, Australia and India which between them contributed more than 4,500 nurses.

A spokesman for the council said dealing with the applications had been a challenge.

"It has been a major challenge. Our aim is to get people on to the register as fast as possible but at the same time ensure high standards of safety for nurses and patients.

"We certainly struggled in the past few months and we do have a backlog."

Beverly Malone, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said it was important the nurses were given proper support.

"These figures show just how much we are relying on nurses from overseas to provide care to patients.

"It is vital that we give support to these nurses during their time in the UK and that we continue to make nursing an attractive career option."