The NHS wants all front-line healthcare workers to have a flu jab this winter, warning trusts that staff refusing the vaccine could be banned from treating patients.

Last winter more than 20 per cent of frontline NHS workers at the Great Western Hospitals Trust were not vaccinated - during the worst flu season in a decade.

Public Health England figures reveal that 923 frontline healthcare workers at the Great Western Hospitals Trust did not get the flu vaccine between September 2017 and February 2018.

Of the 4,001 doctors, nurses, clinical staff and support workers at the trust with direct patient contact, 3,078 did get the vaccine - an uptake rate of 77 per cent.

That’s above the England average of 69 per cent, but still below targets.

The NHS said that trusts should “take appropriate steps to maintain the safety of the service”, including transferring unvaccinated workers away from high-risk patients.

It outlined several reasons why healthcare workers with direct patient contact should be vaccinated, including recent NICE guidelines outlining a link between lower rates of staff vaccination and increased patient death.

It also said that flu-related staff sickness puts pressure on other staff members.

Public service trade union Unison, which represents healthcare workers, said that the NHS should encourage staff to get the flu jab, but not make it compulsory.

Unison head of health Sara Gorton said: “We need to understand why vaccination rates vary so much between different health organisations.

“Some struggle to get teams who are trained to administer the jab to staff working in remote or varied locations.”

She added: “Healthcare staff may choose not to get the jab for fear of allergic reactions, or a phobia around needles.”