Axed beds at an Oxfordshire psychiatric hospital are set to be re-opened following the recruitment of new overseas nurses.

Severe staff shortages at Fair Mile Hospital, at Cholsey, near Wallingford, had left services crippled, forcing hospital bosses to close 39 beds and putting nurses under extreme pressure.

But following a recruitment drive in Finland, the hospital is now preparing to receive 11 more mental health nurses, with the first one starting next week.

The news came as hospital managers returned from a recruitment trip to Helsinki, where they interviewed interested applicants. Although the nurses have been offered 12-month contracts, managers hope many will stay for longer.

The hospital's general manager, Roger Winter, welcomed the news and said he was confident beds would soon be re-opened.

He said: "Currently we have many vacancies and have had to close beds because of the shortage of nurses, but now we can begin to open the beds.

"Under the current situation, there are people we cannot admit but if all goes to plan we hope to open the closed beds during the summer.

Hospital managers have also offered posts to six South African nurses, who are expected to start in May.

Story date: Wednesday 03 March

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.