Applications from nurses to join a trust which struggled to find staff have risen by 144 per cent each week since the start of September after pay offers were increased, it has emerged.

The Barking, Havering, and Redbridge University NHS trust (BHRUT) released its latest monthly report on its improvement plan, which showed average weekly applications have increased from 27 to 67.

The time it takes to hire nurses from advert to offer also shortened, decreasing from 52.3 days in July to 41.9 days in September.

The move, implemented on September 1, was to reduce levels of agency staff at King George Hospital in Goodmayes and Queen’s in Romford.

A report released last month revealed that the trust was struggling to recruit enough nurses with “non-filling of shifts a common occurrence”.

The trust was placed in special measures by the Care Quality Commission last year due to poor standards of care and the trust has a debt of around £40m.

Deborah Tarrant, director of people and organisational development at BHRUT, said: “This increased interest should mean more use of bank staff and less use of agency staff from around mid November, which will benefit our patients through better continuity of patient care.

“It will also help to address our financial situation and by streamlining our recruitment processes we have reduced the time it takes to hire even further.”