There are currently nearly 40,000 nurse vacancies – one in nine posts.

However, the government says it is committed to increasing the number of nurses in training.

But Dame Donna, in an address to the RCN’s annual conference in Liverpool, will say this is not enough.

A report earlier this year by three leading think tanks warned vacancies could rise to 70,000 within five years and 100,000 in 10 if action was not taken.