Pupils urged to consider NHS career

 The NHS will target schoolchildren with TV and radio adverts in an unprecedented recruitment drive as vacancies near 100,000.

The health service, which marks the 70th anniversary of its creation this week, ended the past financial year with almost 93,000 vacancies and hopes to encourage those between 14 and 18 to fill the gap.

The new £8 million recruitment drive is set to point them towards a career in the NHS. The We Are The NHS campaign will highlight professions across the health service, initially focusing on nursing.

It came as Niall Dickson, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, told MPS on the health and social care committee that the health service is having to rely on foreign doctors because there are not enough British medics being trained.

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, said: “I want this campaign to inspire people to take up a career in the NHS and help boost the number of home-grown nurses and midwives.”