Scores of new nurses have been put into NHS Grampian wards thanks to a huge recruitment drive.
The north-east health board has also received thousands of job applications and increased its overall workforce by more than 300.
The figures were revealed just weeks after it was confirmed 19 new consultants had been attracted to work in the region.
But NHS Grampian’s board was also told at its meeting yesterday that the number of vacancies in nursing and midwifery has also increased since this time last year to 355.
It was also revealed that £15.9million was spent on bank staff in nursing and midwifery – up from £14.1million over the same period the previous year.
The cost of hiring agency workers also rose by about £314,000 in the period.
The board hired 176 new nurses and midwifes between March 2014 and March this year after using “traditional methods” such as job fairs and launching a new drive to attract former nurses back into the profession.
For the period between April-May this year, 8,626 applications for jobs at NHS Grampian were received – a 7.8% increase on the same period last year.
Board members were also told the full-time workforce of 11,818 was getting older, with an average age of 43 and 16.8% of staff older than 55.
Last night, NHS Grampian chief executive Malcolm Wright pledged that the organisation would continue to recruit staff.
He said: “We are committed to providing the highest standards of care in Scotland and to do that we need to ensure that we have the right staff in the right place, at the right time.
“The additional nurses and midwifery staff are a big step in the right direction which has already had a positive effect in areas such as emergency and acute medicine, obstetrics and cancer treatment.
“Clearly though, there is more work to do – we acknowledge that and will not be complacent.”
Dr Annie Ingram, the health board’s director of workforce, said: “Overall, our workforce has increased by 1.7% compared with the same point last year.
“In real terms, that’s the equivalent of more than 300 staff.
“This is being done through traditional means such as job fairs and advertising.”
Dr Ingram added that links with universities, particularly Aberdeen and Robert Gordon, helped attract newly-qualified staff, with particular success around a programme aimed at luring former nurses back to the profession.
NHS Grampian employee director Sharon Duncan said: “There are still gaps to be filled but we are clearly going in the right direction.”
North-east SNP MSP Christian Allard said:
“The backbone of our local NHS has been strengthened with the news that our nursing workforce has increased.
Labour MSP Richard Baker welcomed the extra workers – but urged the Scottish Government to come up with a “clear plan” to fill remaining posts at NHS Grampian.
He said: “While this is a step in the right direction and must be welcomed it has to be remembered that at the start of the year we had 400 vacancies in nursing and midwifery.
“With the historic levels of underfunding of the board they must be clear with how they will attract the staff to the north-east which continues to be a place where the cost of living is high.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We have increased the number of nurses and midwives working within the NHS in Scotland by 2,300 during this government to a new record high level of more than 43,000 full time equivalent.”
Dr Jamie Weir, chairman of north-east patients’ body PACT, said: “From the point of view of patients it is a very welcome step that they are hiring more staff.
“I hope that the board and the politicians can now work together to keep this level of recruitment going.”