Thousands of foreign nurses could be working in Britain with FAKE qualifications

Thousands of foreign nurses could be working in Britain with fake qualifications, experts have warned

The fears come after it was revealed that Victorino Chua, a Filipino nurse, used bogus documents to secure his job at Stockport's Stepping Hill hospital.

Yesterday he was convicted of murdering two patients by injecting insulin into saline bags and ampoules – and poisoning 20 others.

Nazir Afzal, who led the Crown Prosecution Service in north-west England, warned that the situation is "extremely worrying and desperately concerning" for patients. He told BBC North West: "In all my 24 years as a prosecutor, I have never escalated concerns to another government department except in this case.

"I do not know whether there were hundreds or thousands or dozens. What I do know is the opportunities were there for them to lie about their qualifications, to obtain them fraudulently, and to cover up their disciplinary matters."

More than 90,000 nurses are registered to work in the UK were trained overseas – and that number is likely to grow as David Cameron attempts to roll out a seven-day NHS.

Katherine Murphy of the Patients Association said: "If we do employ nurses from other countries, we must ensure that they are fully qualified and competent to carry out their duties and that they are competent enough in English to effectively communicate."

In November it was revealed that, for the first time in almost a decade, Britain is now importing more nurses than it exports.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) slammed the costly scramble to tempt nurses from abroad.

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the RCN, said: "It is common sense that relying on short-term fixes is far more expensive in the long run. Yet the UK has been cutting the supply of nurses to save money, then realising too late that patient safety is in danger and paying even more money to recruit from overseas."

"It is the equivalent of relying on payday loans and it is no way to run a health service."