Staff at the Oxleas NHS Trust could be banned from treating patients if they refuse to have a flu jab this winter.

It comes after an extremely low uptake last year when 60 per cent of front-line workers at the trust were not vaccinated, during the worst flu season in a decade.

Public Health England figures reveal 1,847 healthcare workers at Oxleas did not get the flu vaccine between September 2017 and February 2018.

Of the 3,062 doctors, nurses, clinical staff and support workers at the trust with direct patient contact, 1,215 did get the vaccine.

That's one of the lowest rates in the country and dramatically lower than the England average of 69 per cent.

In a letter to trusts earlier this month, the NHS praised trusts which surpassed 90 per cent coverage last year.

The NHS said making vaccination "near universal" is to protect patients in higher-risk clinical environments, like neonatal intensive care and cancer wards, and limit their exposure to unvaccinated staff.

Up to 50 per cent of people with the flu may not even know they have it, but for patients with weakened immune systems or respiratory problems, the flu can be life-threatening.

The NHS said 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.

Chief nurse for NHS England Professor Jane Cummings said that "myths" persist around the flu vaccine, with the "big one" being that it gives people the flu.

Public Health England said that it encourages action from professional health bodies to increase vaccine uptake.

PHE medical director Professor Paul Cosford said: "There is a dual responsibility on trusts and healthcare workers to get rates as high as possible."

Last year, 45 per cent of of NHS workers at Lewisham and Greenwich trust and 30 per cent of staff at Dartford and Gravesham Trust were not vaccinated last winter.