Hackney hospital services have bucked the national trend by recruiting more homegrown doctors and nurses, workforce data found.

According to research by the BBC Shared Data Unit, the Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust saw a 2.6 per cent increase in the share of medical staff joining from the UK between 2015 and 2021.

This goes against the national trend which has witnessed an increased reliance on medical staff recruited from outside the UK and the EU, with an 11pc decrease in the share of UK doctors joining and a 13pc fall in UK nurses joining.

The Hackney-based trust also saw a 2.5pc increase in the share of international medical staff joining between 2015 and 2021.

This corresponds with the 16pc increase in the share of doctors and 27pc increase in the share of nurses joining English health services from the rest of the world.

While the government said overseas recruitment has always been part of the long-term strategy, critics have warned this is an unsustainable way of recruiting in the long term.

Patricia Marquis, director for England of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said ministers must do more to reduce the "disproportionate reliance" on international recruits.

She said: “Our internationally-recruited nurses are, and have always been, invaluable to our health and care services, but ministers must do more to boost the domestic recruitment of nursing staff.

“One of the simplest ways to recruit and retain staff is to pay them fairly.”

While the NHS is recruiting more international doctors and nurses, it also faces challenges of retaining them, which the British Medical Association put down to “punishing workloads” and the cost of visas.

The Hackney-trust again goes against the trend as it saw an 8.1pc decrease in the share of international medical staff leaving while 3.6pc more UK medical staff left between 2015 and 2021.

The share of EU medical staff joining the trust decreased by 5pc with an 4.6pc increase in EU doctors and nurses leaving the trust during the same period.

The Department for Health and Social Care said the government has funded an additional 1,500 undergraduate medical school places and pointed to a 34pc rise in the number of doctors since 2010.

Kate Shoesmith, deputy CEO at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), said staff shortages in the NHS are “the worst they had ever been”.

Homerton Hospital was approached for comment.