A recruitment drive is under way to find 100 nurses and clinical staff for the Lister Hospital and associated sites.

The campaign, which began on Monday and will run until the end of the month, was put in place as a £135 million facelift project at the Stevenage hospital comes to an end.

East & North Herts NHS Trust director of workforce and organisational development Thomas Simons stressed staffing levels were safe – the workforce numbers around 2,500 – but expansion means more specialists are needed, particularly in cardiology, renal, chemotherapy and emergency nursing. “We’re keen to build the best nursing team in the region,” he said.

Finding permanent staff would also be cheaper than filling gaps with agency staff, he said.

There are already 40 clinical support staff and a number of nurses being interviewed this week.