Nurses have spoken out against the recruitment of staff from overseas, and called from an ethical code of conduct to regulate the practice.

The Royal College of Nursing narrowly backed a motion condemning the policy of recruiting foreign nurses to plug chronic shortages in the NHS at its annual congress in Harrogate.

Thousands of nurses have been recruited to the UK from countries such as the Philippines and Zimbabwe, who, critics say, cannot afford to lose them.

But in a heated debate some nurses argued that their overseas colleagues had the right to work wherever they pleased.

Retention problem

If you think that things are bad here then go to South Africa or Eastern Europe

Jane Salvage, nursing director

Nurse Mike Evans, from Torbay, told the congress: "We have a nurse retention problem in the UK. Do we look in depth at the problem - the low pay and low morale?

"No, instead those with a myopia for the future go for the quick fix from abroad.

"In countries where they are struggling to provide basic care, people ask 'Where have all the nurses gone?' They have gone to the UK everyone.

"And what happens when these nurses land in this country - love, care, respect? The answer is not always yes."

Jane Salvage, nursing director of emap healthcare, said for a tough code of conduct on ethical recruitment from the nursing unions and the government.

He said: "There are worse nursing shortages in developing countries.

"If you think that things are bad here then go to South Africa or Eastern Europe."

However, congress delegate David Edwards, form London, disagreed. He said the UK gained huge benefits from nurses recruited from overseas.

"It is wrong to hold back nurses who wish to work elsewhere."

Mr Edwards said some foreign nurses recruited by commercial agencies had been forced to take monthly pregnancy tests and pay for registration papers which are actually free.

Alan Ridley was annoyed by the debate. He said: 'This defies the basic human right to move across the world and smacks of hypocrasy.

"This is the 21st century, we have third generation phones and nurses work worldwide."

Minister's pledge

Clare Short said nursing talent should not be drained from developing countries

Earlier in the day International Development Minister Clare Short told the conference said there would be a continuing need to recruit from overseas because nurse training had been badly run down in the early 1990s.

But she said it was important that the shortage of nurses in the NHS did not lead to the draining of "scarse, precious, crucial expertise from developing countries."

She said the government had introduced a code of conduct stipulating that the NHS should not recruit nurses from countries with a shortage of expertise.

But she said commercial agencies were not abiding by that guidance.

She said: "We have got to get ethical principles for commercial agencies, and then ensure that the NHS does not use any commerical agency that will not agree to ethical standards."

An estimated 30,000 overseas nurses are currently working in the NHS and a third of London nurses are from abroad. Overseas nurses are also being recruited by private hospitals.

The government's NHS Plan, published last July, pledged an extra 20,000 nurses by 2004.

But with unions saying there are still 15,000 unfilled posts in the NHS, hospitals and trusts have been encouraged to look abroad to help plug the huge shortfall.