Hospitals in London could face a future staffing crisis as overseas nurses consider heading to work elsewhere, a study has revealed.

　　Research by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the King's Fund think-tank showed that four out of 10 overseas nurses in the capital admitted that they were thinking about leaving the NHS to take up jobs in other countries.

　　The study also found that two-thirds of Filipino nurses working in London - one of the largest overseas nursing staff groups - were considering quitting the UK to work in the US.

　　Report author Prof James Buchan said: "The NHS and independent health care sectors rely heavily on overseas nurses to deliver health care - without them, parts of the health service would collapse.

　　"They perform a crucial and valuable role but our survey shows the NHS is playing a high risk game by relying on these overseas staff to commit long term to the NHS.

　　"Many of these nurses are considering leaving the NHS and that would pose real problems.

　　"It's clear the NHS needs to up its efforts to grow its own workforce to ensure we have the right number of nurses for the future."

　　The study involved almost 400 nurses from more than 30 different countries who were also asked about why they chose to work in the UK and how long they intended to stay.

　　While the UK has banned active recruitment from many developing countries to the NHS, the research found there was still evidence of "back-door recruitment".

　　Many nurses said they had initially worked for private sector employers in the UK before moving to the NHS soon after completing an adaptation course.