Some 946 nursing posts were vacant in the Irish health service at the end of the first quarter of this year, according to latest figures.
The figures, contained in a National survey on Nursing Resources released yesterday by the Health Service Employers Agency, show that despite the success of many employers in recruiting nurses from abroad, the vacancy rate is still high.
However, it has fallen from a total of 1,021 vacancies reported at the end of last year.
All but two health boards - the southern and north western boards - reported having nursing vacancies. Most were in the east with 151 vacancies in the Northern Area Health Board, 136 in the South Western Area Health Board and 113 in the East Coast Area Health Board area.
In the voluntary hospital sector, the largest number of vacancies were at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, which had 79 vacancies. There were 58 vacancies in St Vincent's Hospital, 32 at the Mater and 30 at St James's.
The survey found that a total of 4,280 nurses were recruited in the year to the end of March but more than half that number - some 2,736 nurses - resigned, retired or moved to another employer.
Furthermore, it found that the number of nurses in the health sector increased by 1,543 over the same period.
Some 1,116 nurses were recruited abroad during the year, which was down on the previous year but the HSEA said this reflected the success of measures to improve staff retention within the system. It said the 946 vacancies represented a vacancy rate of 2.6 per cent of the total nursing workforce.
The study also showed the extent to which agency nurses are still relied upon. Some 307 agency nurses were employed every day during March 2003. However, this marked a decrease of 11 per cent in the use of agency nurses when compared with the final quarter of 2002.
The survey was conducted across health boards, voluntary hospitals and voluntary organisations in the intellectual disability sector during April and May 2003.