FURTHER fears have been raised that a proposed post-Brexit salary net for EU workers may mean many staff could be forced to leave the county's hospitals.

The county's largest NHS trust Oxford University Hospitals, which runs the John Radcliffe, currently has the highest proportion of EU nurses of any trust outside London, at 21 per cent.

The trust currently employs 163 doctors and 637 nurses/health visitors from the EU.

The Government, as part of its post-Brexit immigration policy, has announced that immigrants will only be welcome if they can earn £30,000 or more, while the starting salary for a junior doctor is £27,147 and £22,128 for a nurse.

BMA council chair, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, said: “Any arbitrary salary threshold will affect vast swathes of the NHS workforce coming from overseas, and while the earlier floated figure of £30,000 a year may be reconsidered, anything close to this would have a huge knock-on effect for the health service.

"Doctors depend on a range of staff to support them to carry out their work and a salary threshold would prevent overseas workers from filling these vital roles.”

Eloise Todd from campaign group Best for Britain added: “The NHS will become a very visible victim of Brexit and the consequences will reach into millions of homes.

"This announcement provides us with yet another reason why the public, armed with all the facts, need the final say.”