Eighteen months ago, Katie Morgan was living in a cramped former council house in Torbay and travelling to work at the local hospital in a rusting car that often refused to start. Now she live in a large house-with swimming pool - in Phoenix, Arizona, and has two new cars.
Figures to be released next month from the UK Central Council for Nursing and Midwifery will show that 5,500 nurses emigrated last year.