Nurse exodus warning

Britain faces a massive exodus of nurses, the Royal College of Nursing has warned.

The NHS must double its recruitment of nurses to buck the trend, according to a report published at the outset of the RCN conference in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

The report warns that as many as 35,000 nurses have quit or retired over the last year.

This compares with 20,000 new nurses joining the register and 12,000 imported from overseas.

By 2014 annual recruitment will need to reach 66,000, the report says.

RCN general secretary Dr Beverly Malone said: "Nurses are coming in the front door falling out the back."

"The government has not only got to pay attention to bringing them in but keeping them in."