ALMOST 1,000 staff members at the Great Western Hospital have been given their annual flu jab in a bid to keep fighting fit over the winter.

Nearly 1,000 members of staff have so far had the annual flu jab thanks to the Trust’s Peer Vaccinator programme, which involves trained members of staff visiting wards and departments at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, as well as in hospitals across Wiltshire, to offer colleagues the jab.

The trust hopes that by the end of the flu season in March 2016, around 75 per cent of staff who have regular contact with patients, such as nurses, doctors, pharmacists and ward receptionists, will have had the vaccine.

In the first week of the campaign, 964 members of trust staff, including those who work for Carillion, which provides catering and cleaning services to the Trust, had the flu jab, which is considered one of the best forms of protection against influenza.

Of those, 739 were identified as staff who regularly interact with patients.

Oonagh Fitzgerald, director of human resources, had the jab alongside the team who work on Teal Ward at the Great Western Hospital.

 She said: “We offer the flu jab to all our staff as it’s the best way of defending yourself against this nasty virus, which is so much more than your average cough and cold.

“By having the flu jab, we’re not only protecting ourselves and our families but also our patients and their carers.

“The very nature of our work means our staff are more at risk to catching flu, so we want to do all we can to keep every member of staff, wherever they work, healthy this winter.”