Crisis as Britain's Armed Forces admit: We're 900 medics short

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The Ministry of Defence has been forced to take a series of crisis measures, such as offering bounties for civilian nurses to swap hospital wards in this country for the front line in the battle against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The worst-hit areas are of critical significance to saving soldiers' lives in war zones.

Shortage: Britain's Armed Forces need more medical personnel, like the characters in 1970s television show M*A*S*H

The MoD has conceded there were desperate shortages of 'emergency medicine nurses' and anaesthetists.

The Army has a shortage of 733 medical personnel and has less than half its number of fully trained anaesthetists.

The RAF is short of 174 doctors and nurses.

Alarmingly, figures revealed in a Parliamentary written answer show that 676 medical personnel in all three Services are 'non-effective', which means they cannot be deployed to battle zones because they are either on 'terminal leave, professional training or long-term sick leave'.

Shadow Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: 'This problem has been ignored and allowed to become a crisis.

'Medical staff on the front line work wonders but they cannot perform miracles with so few personnel.'