Bradford hospitals are launching another overseas recruitment drive in a bid to fill nursing posts.

Managers from the NHS Trust will visit Singapore over the summer to interview up to 100 nurses.

Vacancies across West Yorkshire have now hit the staggering 1,200 mark.

At a meeting of the Trust board, chief nurse Rose Stephens said it was clear that local universities could not meet demand.

"As we can see from performance indicators, we actually do very well in terms of recruitment and retention," she said.

"However, as the board knows, 18 months ago we had to have an overseas recruitment drive and we are looking at having one again over the summer."

Two weeks ago, The Telegraph & Argus reported how Airedale General Hospital had been forced to recruit overseas nurses for the first time after vacancies in acute services reached an all-time high.

Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust flew in 90 nurses from the Philippines in 2000 to ease pressure in specialised areas. But staffing levels are still low in theatre and intensive care and more nurses are required for the expanding renal unit.

The new batch will be recruited from large, American hospitals in Singapore, which are approved for accreditation purposes by the Department of Health. They can apply for UK registration before flying to the UK, usually on five-year work permits.

Mrs Stephens said: "The Singapore nurses we employed previously have turned out to be excellent and high calibre. There have been no problems in terms of communication or language difficulties and the majority have stayed."

Performance indicators released in February showed Bradford hospitals had a one per cent vacancy rate among qualified nurses, midwives and health visitors compared to the national average of about three per cent.

A spokeswoman from the Royal College of Nursing said the Government stated it had reached its target of recruiting an extra 20,000 nurses in February, but added that retention was a major problem.

"Almost 25 per cent of nurses will retire in the next five years so the health service is naturally losing resources," she said.

"The key thing is to keep recruiting while managing to retain the nurses we already have."