Dozens of nurses are coming from the other side of the world to fill jobs at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust has offered employment to 119 nurses from the Phillipines – a small island nation some 6,700 miles away in South East Asia.

Nurses in the Philippines earn as little as £1,500 a year and for many years have travelled to English speaking countries to better their lives.

The recruitment drive comes as the trust struggles to fill 179 nursing vacancies across the infirmary and at Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax.

Hospital bosses hope at least 75 Fillipino nurses will accept job offers.

In the three years prior to the EU Referendum, the trust had sought staff from Spain, Portugal and Italy, along with India and Romania.

The Trust’s chief nurse, Brendan Brown, said: “The shortage of nurses faced by the NHS across the country remains challenging, and like all hospitals we have vacancies in our nursing workforce.

“We have been successful in attracting new nursing staff to the trust through recruitment both locally and from overseas so the number of these vacancies is falling.

“However, the safe staffing of our services remains a priority, and when needed we will bring in agency or bank colleagues to support our teams on the wards to deliver safe care to our patients.”