The South African Nursing Union says valuable staff are being drained from its hospitals because of loopholes in the UK's ethical guidelines set up to stop the poaching of nurses from developing countries.

BBC One's 4x4 Reports found that nurses at Johannesburg Hospital, where staff are forced to turn patients away, were being lured to better-paid jobs in Britain.

While the Department of Health has stopped agencies from recruiting for the NHS from abroad, the guidelines do nothing to halt recruitment in the third-world by the private sector. Nurses there can also apply directly for NHS posts themselves.

President of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa), Ephraim Mafolo, said: "If Britain keeps on taking nurses from this country, it will drain us of all the expertise and experiences this country needs to serve the community.

Top 10 non-EU NHS nurse providers

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"Our health institutions will definitely collapse and it will mean South Africa will need a lot of money to retrain nurses who it will lose at the end of the day."

South Africa is second on the top ten list of countries who provide the most nurses for the UK. Last year, 38 nurses left Johannesburg Hospital alone.

In the hospital's emergency trauma unit, a huge steel gate regulates the patients coming through - on a typically busy night only those with life-threatening injuries can be admitted.

Violent crime is rampant in this city and the unit treats up to 20 gunshot victims a night.

Sister Eales is forced to turn patients away

The sister in charge, Jocelyn Eales, told 4x4: "When our staff leave for hospitals abroad, it's very sad for us because it places the nurses that are left behind at even greater stress levels.

"Financially, most of the hospitals in South Africa cannot afford to match the kind of salaries being offered overseas.

Poaching 'discouraged'

"In a lot of ways, I can't blame them. Everyone needs to make a living. It just makes life very difficult for those of us left behind with these patient numbers and the decrease in staff."

A UK Department of Health spokesperson told 4x4 agencies recruiting for the private sector were being discouraged from operating in developing countries.

In a statement, they added: "The code of practice for NHS employers is also concerned with the protection of developing countries and seeks to prevent active recruitment from nations who are themselves experiencing shortages of healthcare staff.

"The code does, however, promote the structured exchange of healthcare staff, practices and systems in England's National Health Service and healthcare systems throughout the world."

Nursing In Crisis: 4x4 Reports was on BBC One on Monday 9 December at 1930 GMT.