A HEALTH trust says it is now 'winning the battle' to recruit enough staff after more EU staff than ever decided to leave their jobs following the Brexit vote.

It is hoped a recruitment drive to India and the Philippines will bring in hundreds of new nurses from January 2018 to bring the workforce in Oxford's hospitals back up to the required levels.

The most recent figures from the first six months of 2016/17 show 17.2 per cent of staff that left the trust were from the European Union, compared with just 8.1 per cent in 2014/15.

And John Drew, freshly-appointed HR Director at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, says his team is having to look further afield to tap into other recruitment sources.

He said: "We have made about 175 offers on a recent trip to India and we would expect that from those offers around 100 nurses will accept.

“The team we had going out included some of our nursing staff and they had made a video with current members of staff from India, sharing their stories and experiences of working with the trust.

“In the Philippines they have an oversupply of nurses. We are going out in December to see if we can recruit from the area - we are winning the battle to make sure we have the staff we need."

Currently OUH has 70 nursing vacancies and although it has recruited in the Philippines before, bosses now hope to hire around 200 new nurses in order to fill the natural turnover of staff positions every year.

But Mr Drew says the biggest recruitment challenge the trust has faced is the impact of a new English Language test, which was introduced in January 2016.

And only 46 nurses from the EU registered at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in April, compared with 1,304 in July 2016.

Mr Drew added: "A challenge for us has been the introduction of a new English Language test.

“I think this has been one of the biggest reasons why EU nurses have stopped coming to us and this is reflected nationally too.

"We are still recruiting from Europe, we have made a number of offers to nurses in Spain and Ireland but we have strong links to India and the Philippines.

“The first 10 to 15 Indian nurses will arrive in January and from there every month they will continue to come to the trust."

Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds said the high rate of EU staff leaving was 'very worrying', particularly as the city already has challenges with recruitment because of the high cost of housing.

She added: "This is coupled with the removal of the student nurses' bursary, which has led to a reduction in nursing applicants.

"Uncertainty over Brexit, and in particular around arrangements for EU staff and their families, seem to be making the problem worse.

"I will keep pushing in Parliament to try and get more clarity and stability for EU staff in our NHS and indeed across our public services and other areas in Oxford where they are essential."

The trust said it was also committed to recruiting newly-trained nurses, many of them British, from courses at Oxford Brookes University.

He said: “We have done a lot of analysis into why nurses leave our trust. And what we have found the main issue to be is career progression.

"To make our nurses want to stay we have created 100 new senior nursing roles.

"We have also introduced values-based interviews because we want to make sure we are recruiting people who fit in with our culture and values at the trust."

In September the Oxford Mail reported a wave of bed closures, which saw nearly 300 hospital beds out of action across the trust's hospitals.

'Staffing pressures' forced the trust to temporarily close 92 beds, along with 100 already gone as part of an NHS shake-up and almost 100 caused by ‘bed-blocking'.

Chairwoman of Patient Voice Jacquie Pearce-Gervis said the staffing shortage was 'deeply concerning' and hoped the trust was doing all it could to ensure staff from other countries were encouraged to continue being an important part of the health system.

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has also seen a reduction in the number of EU staff in 2016/17.

More than six per cent of staff left during the last financial year compared with just over four per cent leaving in 2015/16.

Spokesman for the trust Chris Kearney said: "Historically we have never carried out targeted recruitment drives in other EU countries in the same way some of our fellow NHS trusts have.

"As a trust we recognise there are a number of challenges to the recruitment of staff including the high cost of living here in Oxfordshire which is set against the backdrop of a national nursing shortage."

For more information about career opportunities at the trust visit: ouh.nhs.uk/working-for-us/