Nurses from Spain will arrive in Medway next month to combat a shortage of nursing staff at Medway Maritime Hospital.

Like many other NHS trusts in the country, Medway NHS Foundation Trust has found itself having to rely on agency staff to maintain safe staffing levels for patients.

The trust advertised for nurses overseas in July 2014 with a lesser level of language and lower qualifications than those expected from their English counterparts.

Recruitment days were also held in Medway and at universities resulting in 114 local nurses being recruited in the last six months.

An accommodation block at the site in Gillingham has been refurbished and will house 25 nurses with the first arriving six in January from Spain.

Karen McIntyre, deputy director of nursing, said: “We recognise that we need to recruit more nurses. What is essential is that we have the right factors and benefits in place to help us retain our nursing staff.

“Given Medway’s close proximity to London, it is inevitable we do lose some of our nurses seeking career progression, once they have acquired the right level of experience.

"Offering our new nurses the option to live on site at the hospital, while they adapt to their new surroundings, is just one example of how we can help strike the delicate balance of recruiting and retaining staff. We are definitely starting to move in the right direction.”

Nursing staff will be offered a place for up to three months and once they are familiar with their new work environment and local area, the trust will help them find accommodation in Medway and the surrounding area.

Dr Pete Green, chief clinical officer at NHS Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said: “We welcome the hospital’s improvements to nurses’ accommodation, and see this as a positive step towards supporting and enabling frontline staff to do the best for their patients.

The latest data for Medway Maritime Hospital, published on the NHS Choices website, shows that the hospital is filling 89% of its planned registered nursing hours during the day, and 99% at night.

Nationally, figures released by the NHS show that 92% of the 225 acute hospital trusts in England did not meet their staffing targets during the day in August.

Hospitals have been required to publish monthly data on whether they have enough nurses on wards since April 2014. It followed a report into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, which was heavily criticised for failings of care that may have contributed to unnecessary deaths.

Many hospitals have had to boost their nurse numbers by recruiting overseas, and spending on agency staff has contributed to NHS deficits.

Medway NHS Foundation Trust has been in special measures since July 2013, following the Keogh review and subsequent inspections from the Care Quality Commission rated the hospital inadequate.

One of the recommendations set out by the CQC was for the hospital to “ensure departments are sufficiently staffed by competent staff”.