In October last year, Councillor Raj Mehta, Council’s cabinet member for Communities and Inclusivity organised a top level meeting with the Indian Consul in Birmingham to find out how the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH) could recruit more doctors and nurses from India.

The Council Leader, Councillor Shaun Davies also contacted the Government to highlight issues around visa delays that he was told acted as a barrier to medical staff from India coming to work at hospitals such as the Princess Royal.

Following that meeting, SaTH has recruited three cohorts of nurses who will arrive in the borough in November to start work at the Princess Royal Hospital the following month.

Councillor Mehta said: “I am happy that we have achieved the goal we set out to achieve; that being to help with recruitment to the Princess Royal Hospital. 

“The Trust has told me that, as a result of this successful recruitment drive, the arrival of three cohorts of nurses from India will mean that the Princess Royal Hospital will be fully staff for nursing for the first time in years.

“I am looking forward to welcoming the new medical professionals to Telford and Wrekin. We will help SaTH deliver a package together to help them settle in before they start work.

“This is another great example of our work together to show the wider international community that Telford is a great place to live and work in.”