Former nurses in Scotland are being offered the chance to return to work in an effort to tackle staff shortages within the health service.

Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm confirmed the expansion of the Return to Practice project following a successful pilot in six areas of the country.

It aims to encourage nurses whose registrations have lapsed to return to the profession by helping out with course fees, travel costs and child care.

The Scottish Executive hopes that the package of benefits - which is worth �1,500 per nurse - will attract at least 400 people back to the profession.

There are about 10,000 nurses in Scotland who actually aren't nursing

James Kennedy RCN chief officer

The �1m programme was first announced in February as part of a �5m cash injection for the NHS.

James Kennedy, chief officer for Scotland at the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said the drive was "really important" to address staff problems.

Other moves include creating 250 extra student nurse places for the current academic year and giving new graduates a guaranteed minimum of 12 months' work in the NHS.

Mr Chisholm said it was vital to reverse the falling trend of student nurses going into university.

'Horrendous workload'

He said: "Nurses and midwives are the heart of the NHS. To the public they play an increasingly valuable role in delivering changes and improvements in more person-centred services."

The executive and NHS Scotland were committed to encouraging people back into nursing, he added.

"To date this has allowed 126 nurses and midwives return to the health service, both in hospital and primary care settings, and 150 will have completed the programme in the six areas by March next year," he said.

Mr Kennedy said the move was badly needed because Scotland remained "behind the game on this one".

Malcolm Chisholm: "Nurses are the heart of the NHS"

He said: "It's happened in England and Wales. We have been lobbying for the past year for it to happen.

"There are about 10,000 nurses in Scotland who actually aren't nursing and even if we got 10% of those back into nursing that would have a very big impact.

"However, I think it's very important that the system is flexible and can work with these nurses in a much more flexible way."

Ministers would have to address nurses' "horrendous workload" and offer better pay, and more flexible hours, he added.

Unions earlier this month called for a 20% pay rise for Scottish nurses to bring them into line with other public sector employees.

Unison and the RCN said the executive could no longer use the excuse that increasing staff salaries were financially unworkable.