FIVE nurses from overseas are being deployed in the Borders to help ease pressure on the region’s struggling health board.

The move is part of a recruitment boost announced by Scottish health secretary Humza Yousaf earlier this week to tackle the “unprecedented challenges” facing the NHS.

A total of 191 international nurses – from countries including India and the Philippines – have been hired by Scottish hospitals, as well as more than 1,000 additional healthcare support staff.

It is hoped the nurses set for the Borders will make a “massive difference” to the region’s health board.

An NHS Borders spokesperson said: “We are delighted that five of the international nurses hired by NHS Scotland are being deployed locally with further interviews planned in the coming weeks.

“Every single new nurse that is successfully recruited to NHS Borders makes a massive difference to our services and helps us to care for countless individuals.

“Currently some of our new nurses are undergoing training and settling into their roles as well as life in Scotland, while the rest of our international recruits should be joining us within the next couple of months.

“We hope the public will join us in offering all of our new team members a very warm welcome to the Borders.”

Agreements are in place with recruitment agencies for a further 203 nurses, according to a government spokesperson.

The figure is likely to increase “significantly” over the coming months as boards take advantage of new infrastructure for employing qualified international staff.

The recruitment drive – backed by funding totalling £19.5 million – comes after a warning that Scotland’s NHS will need to be reformed if it is to be financially sustainable.

The Audit Scotland report also states that the health service is facing a major recruitment crisis.

On the recent jobs announcement, Mr Yousaf, of the SNP, said: “The pandemic has been the biggest shock our NHS has faced in its 73 year existence. To help deal with winter pressures and pressure brought on by the current COVID wave we are expanding and investing in our NHS workforce.

“Our hardworking and compassionate health and social care staff have been on the frontline of patient care throughout the pandemic and I am incredibly grateful to them all.

“In October, we set ambitious targets to boost the number of health care support staff and step up international nurse recruitment. I am delighted with the success of the recruitment campaigns and seeing the new staff already providing frontline patient care. Scotland has the best paid NHS staff in the UK and record workforce levels, with more than 155,000 whole time equivalent staff now working in the service. We are determined to continue this progress as we recover from the pandemic.

“Our National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care commits to understanding how we can achieve a more sustainable, skilled workforce which makes careers in health and social care – at all levels – more attractive.”