Nurses are being recruited from across the country and Europe to fill vacancies at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, the trust has revealed.
It comes as the nursing union, The Royal College of Nursing
(RCN), expressed concern over a shortage of nurses at hospitals in Devon and Cornwall.
New figures reveal there were around 800 vacancies in Devon and Cornwall health trusts at the end of January.
The RCN has blamed a lack of training places.
But the RD&E said that although recruitment is challenging, it is actively recruiting nurses from across the country and abroad.
There are around 80 vacancies at the RD&E, compared with more than 200 at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth and more than 100 at the Royal Cornwall Hospital.
The total number of vacancies in the region is almost six per cent of the total 14,300 nursing posts.
RD&E Deputy Chief Nurse/Midwife Tracey Reeves said: "Recruiting for new registered nurses is a challenge, which is in part due to a significant increase in our nursing establishment.
"The RD&E is well regarded as an excellent place to work and in the last two years we have made a £3.5m investment in our nursing staff so we can continue to provide high quality care for patients.
"We are actively seeking to fill our current vacancies locally, nationally and in other countries such as Spain and Italy.
"The RD&E is committed to ensuring its nurses maintain and update their skills through training.
"Health Education South West is responsible for the provision of funding for nurse training for acute hospitals and the RD&E would support any proposals to increase this funding to make more training places available."
Sarah Zanoni, of the RCN in the South West, said: "We are facing a bit of a demographic time-bomb as nurses are getting older, many are nearing retirement age.
"We have been watching this for quite a while and we are now in a position where trusts are having to spend an increasing amount of money bringing agency staff in."
* Recruitment open days are taking place at Seaton Hospital on February 10, Axminster Hospital on February 15, North Devon District Hospital on March 16 and Tiverton and District Hospital on March 23.
