AN INFLUX of medical students to Morecambe Bay is already having a positive impact on recruitment, according to hospital chiefs.

Announcing a number of consultant appointments, the chief executive of Morecambe Bay Hospitals NHS Trust, Ian Cumming, said that the arrival of 42 medical students from the University of Liverpool this autumn was starting to have a knock-on effect.

"It does seem as if in one or two areas, recruitment is starting to get a little bit easier," he said. "Part of it is, I genuinely believe the medical school has made these jobs more attractive. We have got students here now, and people like teaching."

Mr Cumming said that in addition, new consultant contracts, which had increased pay rates, had made the NHS more attractive to European doctors.

Among the appointments announced by Mr Cumming were a consultant accident and emergency surgeon for the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and the Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal; a consultant gastroenterologist (specialising in digestive diseases) for Barrow's Furness General Hospital; and a consultant geriatrician (older people's care) for the RLI and WGH.

l Mr Cumming warned that the trust was overspending this year by a greater amount than health bosses would like, and would have to be vigilant for the rest of the financial year.

There would be no non-essential, non-clinical expenditure, he said.