BOLTON health bosses are considering taking part in a Government scheme to recruit extra nurses from Spain.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn signed a deal at the Spanish embassy yesterday to recruit up to 5,000 nurses in a bid to ease chronic staff shortages in the NHS.

The first 75 Spanish nurses will arrive in the North-west early next year and will go to five health authorities including neighbouring Blackburn.

They will be assigned to posts where nurse vacancies have been unfilled for at least six months and other recruitment strategies have not worked.

If the North-west pilot scheme -- which Bolton is not a part of -- works well, up to 5,000 Spanish nurses may be recruited into the NHS.

Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust managers will watch the progress of the pilot scheme and could be interested in recruiting Spanish nurses to fill several vacancies if it proves a success.

"We have not gone out to specifically get nurses from abroad, although we do have some who have been appointed in the normal way," said Beverley Andrews, the Trust's director of operations.

"But we will be interested in the pilot scheme and keeping in touch with the education and training consortium and regional office.

The Trust recently managed to fill 50 vacant nursing posts but there are still some shortages.

"We do have some vacancies and will be tapping into these initiatives," said Mrs Andrews.

The Department of Health said the Spanish nurses coming to Britain will have to meet strict criteria. A spokesman said: "The nurses will already have to speak very good English, but when they arrive here they will go on an intensive course which includes technical language classes.

"They will have individual mentoring and will be housed in nursing accommodation in the area in which they will work. We will learn from the Spanish nurses and they will learn from us."

Spain has been targeted because the country has large numbers of nurses who are trained to a high level.

There were 7,500 foreign nurses working in the NHS last year, according to Department of Health figures.

As part of the Government's National Plan for NHS reform published last July, an extra 20,000 nurses were pledged by 2004.

Nurses from the Philippines and China have already been recruited into the NHS.