At least one Greater Manchester hospital has placed a freeze on recruitment and others are thought to be planning cuts to balance their books.

Nursing unions said the government blundered by over-estimating the number of jobs that would be available to student nurses.

A national survey found that 80 per cent of student nurses due to graduate this year have so far failed to secure a position, compared with 30 per cent last year.

Greater Manchester is one of the country's main training centres, with about 1,000 nurses qualifying a year.

'No guaranteed work'

Royal Bolton Hospital, which normally offers jobs to students from Salford University, has told about 40 nurses, who completed placements, that there is no guaranteed work.

A Bolton Hospitals Trust spokesman said: "Although we do not have as many vacancies, we are doing what we can to support these students."

Unions said it costs the taxpayer about £50,000 to train each nurse and blamed universities and the Department of Health for failing to co-ordinate supply with demand.

Kevin Terry, from the Royal College of Nurses, said: "The generation of nurses who are facing this crisis are among those who responded to a large-scale government campaign calling for more nurses in the NHS. Questions must be asked if the jobs are not now available."

'Too early'

A spokesman for Salford University, which has 500 students nurses graduating each year, said: "We are presently working with the Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority to help all of our graduates achieve employment, but it is too early to give a definitive set of figures."

Manchester University, where 370 nurses will qualify, and Manchester Metropolitan University, which trains 100 each year, also said the situation would not become clear until students graduated.

A Manchester University spokesman said: "The university recognises there are difficulties in the NHS and that jobs are harder to come by this year."

The Strategic Health Authority said that some trusts were cutting back to balance budget deficits.

A spokesman said: "The Department of Health said it wants all trusts to balance their budgets over the next financial year. Most will have a plan to deal with that - it may mean reducing the number of nurses they employ coming out of training."

Central Manchester Healthcare Trust, which runs seven hospitals, was not in deficit this year and said it would be recruiting normally.

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