Thousands of nursing students decide every year against working as nurses as soon as they finish their training, a study reveals.

Researchers at The King's Fund believe as many as one in three newly-qualified nurses fails to register to practise.

They have also found that some of the biggest hospitals in the country are continuing to have major difficulties keeping nurses.

These figures are astounding

Royal College of Nursing spokeswoman

The problem is particularly acute in London where some major hospitals lose more than one third of their nursing staff each year.

The Royal College of Nursing described the findings as "astounding" and urged the government to take action to make nursing a more attractive profession.

However, ministers said the figures were out-of-date and did not reflect recent increases in nurse numbers.

Analysis

Belinda Finlayson and colleagues estimated that more than 24,000 students qualified as nurses between 1997 and 1998.

However, just over 16,000 nurses registered to practise during that year suggesting a further 8,000 had decided against pursuing a career in nursing.

The researchers called for further study to examine why these students were failing to take up jobs.

The researchers also looked at the retention of nursing staff in hospitals in a number of major English cities between 1999 and 2000.

They found that rates of turnover were highest in central London hospitals. Nine of London's 33 trusts lose a third of their nurses each year.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, the researchers warned that such high turnover rates were damaging the NHS.

"Clearly high turnover has a knock-on effect on staff morale, organisation finances, and perhaps patient care," they wrote.

The researchers said the problems were serious and "will need to be tackled if the government's modernisation agenda for the NHS is to be realised".

Researchers at the Kings Fund estimate that as many as one in three newly-qualified nurses fail to register to be allowed to practise.

The study also shows that many major hospitals in London are unable to keep existing nurses, with turnover at some centres as high as 38%.

Mr Hutton said the situation has improved

But Health Minister John Hutton said the figures were three years old and the situation was now "significantly better".

"The number of nurses is higher than it has ever been before. Last year saw the biggest ever recorded rise in the number of nurses working in the NHS.

"I am not going to say every problem about recruitment and retention has been solved but we are beginning to address those problems," he said.

"We are not going to solve it overnight but we are on track to solve this recruitment and retention problem the NHS is suffering from."

'Astounding'

But the Royal College of Nursing said the government had to do more.

"Whilst these figures are astounding, they are sadly not new for the big London hospitals," a spokeswoman said.

She added: "We need to make sure that trained nurses are encouraged back into the profession and that nursing is seen as a good career option so that more student nurses enter the system."

Shadow Health Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "The King's Fund have proved what everyone - except ministers - long ago accepted.

"While the Government is obsessed with statistical tricks to meet their nurse recruitment targets, the profession is in crisis because nothing is being done to retain those who are already practicing."

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Paul Burstow said: "The government still has not addressed the scale of the problem caused by the growing gap between nurses' salaries and what it costs to work as a nurse in London."