Hospital staff are heading to the Med in a bid to come back with more nurses for Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Calderdale Royal Hospital.

Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust (CHFT) admitted earlier this year it needed about 70 full-time nurses to meet minimum staffing requirements.

Nurse to patient ratios are due to be published on each ward and on the NHS Choices website as part of a bid to reassure the public following the excessive deaths scandal at Mid Staffordshire Hospital.

In June hospital chiefs said they would spend £1.5m to fill the vacancies amid some wards suffering understaffing on 50% of their shifts.

It is thought the problem has been compounded by a number of nurses retiring or giving up the profession.

Unlike neighbouring Mid Yorkshire Trust, which said it would seek 60 nurses from Spain, bosses at CHFT initially said they would not look overseas for staff.

Director of nursing Julie Dawes confirmed the change of heart.

She said: “Due to a national shortage of nurses our Trust, along with many others in the country, is interviewing nurses in Spain.

“Alongside our ongoing recruitment campaign, we hope this will enable us to achieve the required staffing levels on our wards to deliver compassionate care for our patients.”

A team of three – two nurses and an HR manager – are flying out to Madrid in the next few weeks and may make a second visit if required.

Applicants are put through tests to check they have the correct clinical and English language skills.