POWYS Teaching Health Board is set to recruit additional nurses from the Philippines.
Last week the health board said nursing shortages had forced it close beds in Brecon and at Knighton hospital - and despite an overseas recruitment drive had so far failed to appoint nurses from outside the UK.
But its director of nursing Rhiannon Jones said the board is in the process of actively recruiting registered nurses and health care support workers (HCSWs).
Ms Jones said the nurses it has recruited from the Philippines could start work shortly and it also plans to recruit more foreign nurses.
She said: "We have recently made offers to 17 registered nurses from the Philippines to work at locations across Powys, including Brecon, and hope that they will be able to start in the next few months once all necessary statutory checks are complete.
"We are planning a second round of international recruitment later in the year. Recruiting staff from overseas plays an important part of our staff planning as it is not always possible to recruit nursing staff from within the UK.
"Our priority will always be safe patient care and ensuring the appropriate numbers of staff with the right skills to provide dignified, high quality care for patients."
As well as its international recruitment the board said it has appointed 31 HCSWs to its new temporary staffing unit, which it calls its bank.
Ms Jones added: "Using bank staff allows us to complement our full-time staff and provide a flexible workforce that can quickly adapt to changing demands and increased patient needs."
The board had closed three beds at the 30-bed Breconshire War Memorial Hospital and the same number at the smaller Knighton Hospital due to a shortage of nurses.
In March Ms Jones had warned health board members management would have to consider shutting beds to ensure it was able to meet "safe staffing" levels on its wards.
The board operates nine hospitals across Powys.