Nurses set to graduate this year will benefit from measures being taken to ease overcrowding in Irish hospitals.

According to the Irish Independent, the HSE has given the go-ahead for hospital managers to offer all 1500 graduates permanent jobs.

It's one of a range of measures in the pipeline to alleviate pressure on the system, including the opening of 300 extra hospital beds from November, and the approval of funding for more home care packages, to help older people get discharged from acute hospitals more quickly.