The department said there were just over 500 vacant posts in hospital and social services trusts and about 400 vacancies in the independent sector.

If the current trend of nurses leaving the profession continued, the Department of Health warned a worst case scenario would see a shortage of 2,800 nurses by 2006.

It is the first time a detailed look has been taken of what the shortfall is and how bad it is likely to get.

Training

Measures to address the problem have been taken by the department.

The number of nurses being trained in the last three years has been increased to the current annual intake of 750.

The adoption of family friendly working policies by trusts has also been encouraged.

Recruiting

Many big hospitals in Northern Ireland have also gone abroad to recruit nurses - there are over 1,000 nurses from overseas working in the province.

Figures released in August showed that one in every 16 nurses in Northern Ireland was from outside the British Isles.

Most were from Australia, the Phillipines, and India, while it is understood some health trusts had also been recruiting in the Carribean.