HOSPITALS in East Lancashire could face severe staff shortages if nurses are lured away by "golden hellos" of up to £2,000.

Health watchdogs have expressed deep concern after it emerged that several self-governing NHS trusts across the UK were offering large recruitment incentives in a bid to poach specialist nurses.

It is understood that some big-city hospitals in the North West are among those trying to counter a chronic shortage in nurses by dangling big financial "carrots."

But Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Community Health Council is worried that the "golden hellos" could lead to an exodus of specialist staff leaving East Lancashire.

Chief officer Nigel Robinson said: "There is real concern at the CHC that we could lose specialist staff from this area.

"The knock-on effect on the local hospitals would be worrying in view of the national shortage of nurses.

"A lack of staff could lead to more patients being sent out-of-town for specialist treatment."

The issue is particularly vital in intensive care units where beds have to be closed if there are not enough nurses.

Some NHS trusts are operating schemes which order the nurses to stay at least two years to qualify for their "golden hello."

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has blamed the shortage of nursing staff and the need to pay recruitment incentives on the "fragmentation of the NHS" and warned that it could lead to less prosperous trusts suffering extreme shortages.

A RCN spokesman covering East Lancashire said: "With local pay deals, you are moving the shortages from one place to another.

"The answer, we believe, is to stick with a national going rate for nurses because they are a national resource.

"Managers should also look at why people leave. It is not the money, but the way they are treated."

He said the problem had been exacerbated by a big reduction of nursing students during the last decade.

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