The health board covering Dundee and the wider area has welcomed almost 250 new staff as it seeks to meet strong post-pandemic demand for services.
NHS Tayside says its recruitment drive for new staff is the biggest it has ever undertaken.
Health services are experiencing "unprecedented" demand after families were told to stay away from hospitals at the peak of lockdown - prompting the mass hiring spree.
Some of the new nursing staff were welcomed at an induction event held in Dundee's Ninewells Hospital.
Claire Pearce, director of nursing and midwifery, said she was "delighted" to induct the new recruits.
She said: "We are lucky enough to have recruited 248 nurses and midwives this year and I want to thank them for choosing Tayside as the place they want to work.
"Their skills will provide invaluable support as we move into the busy winter period and beyond.
“These new practitioners have started their careers during an unprecedented and challenging time."
The exceptional circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic meant that some of the staff were able to start working on wards early, while waiting for their formal nursing registrations to be issued.
Claire added: “Nursing is a true vocation and is a job that has a real impact on people’s lives.
"It is an absolute privilege to be a nurse or midwife and be there from the start of life to the end of life and all stages in between.
"I have no doubt that our new staff will get great satisfaction from their new careers in their chosen specialties.”
The new practitioners are taking up roles in a range of healthcare services and in locations across Tayside including district nursing, mental health and learning disabilities, surgery, women and children’s services, critical care and theatres.
Some are also working in community roles in collaboration with the health and social care partnerships - the joint initiatives run by NHS Tayside and local councils - in Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross.
Among the new recruits inducted at Ninewells this week are nurse graduate Claire McKenzie, now based at Ward 1 in the hospital, and midwife graduate Rebecca Dike.
Claire said: “I started in NHS Tayside in ward 1 as a healthcare assistant back in 2016 where I learnt the basics of nursing care. With the support of the senior charge nurse and my colleagues, I joined the NHS endorsed route into nursing.
“To now be a registered nurse back in the same ward I started as a healthcare assistant is a huge achievement and I’m incredibly proud to be a staff nurse in NHS Tayside.”
Rebecca added: “I trained in South West England and before I came to Tayside I was nervous about how things might be done differently here, but the people and the support I’ve received have been so wonderful.”
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