The nurses have signed contracts at the hospital for two years

Eleven Spanish nurses will start working at Good Hope Hospital in Rectory Road next month.

The hospital has recently held several open days to try to interest more local youngsters in a career in the NHS.

It says it was ideal to recruit in Spain as 8,000 new nurses are trained there every year but there are only 3,000 vacancies in its health service.

British standards

Barbara Beale, the director of nursing, said: "They are all fully qualified and speak good English, which is a requirement of Department of Health recruitment standards.

"There are only 3,000 vacancies in their health service (in Spain) so we are not in any way creating a nurse shortage for them."

The hospital says it was the only trust out of the six in the West Midlands to go on the Department of Health's recruitment drive to the country in the summer.

Because the nurses come from within the European Union, their qualifications have been verified as being up to British standards and they only need to have a two-week induction programme before working in the NHS.

They have signed contracts for two years.