ONE in five staff members in Oxfordshire's hospitals faces an uncertain future as Brexit negotiations get under way.

New data from the House of Commons Library shows Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has the second-highest proportion of EU nationals in the country.

Staff from the EU make up 19.6 per cent of the trust's workforce and take up about 2,300 roles, from doctors and nurses to cleaners, porters and technicians.

Mark Power, the trust's director of organisational development and workforce, said the outcome of last year's referendum had led to 'real concern'.

He said: "The anxiety caused by Brexit is acknowledged and is being managed locally.

"However, a clear statement at national level confirming the continued protection of employment rights for our non-UK staff would be most welcome.

"We have joined other NHS employers in calling for this clarification, because without it we face the real risk of losing a substantial and vital part of our workforce."

OUH, whose chief executive Bruno Holthof is Austrian, has recently employed a 'significant' number of clinical staff from Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland.

Following the Brexit vote in June, it held a special lunch for all colleagues recruited from outside of the UK to enforce how much they were valued.

It gave staff a chance to talk about their home countries and how they came to join OUH.

Spanish citizen Jose Martinez, a nurse at the John Radcliffe Hospital, said the proportion of EU nationals in the emergency department was even higher.

He said: "You only need to go into the department or go up to the ward. We are everywhere. Without us it would be a huge mess."

The 27-year-old, who has an English wife and two children, said he hoped to stay in the UK but felt uncertain about the future.

He said: "From my department we have been given assurance that we are going to carry on with our normal employment.

"But at the moment I feel a bit worried. Things are changing; I'm going to wait and see how things go.

"Many of my colleagues are remaining in Spain now. Some were thinking about trying to come here but now they're reluctant because they don't know what's going on."

Mr Power added: "We continue to provide as much direct support and reassurance as possible.

"Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that the domestic labour market will be capable of supplying sufficient numbers of trained staff in the short to medium term."

The figures were unearthed by the Labour Party in a bid to put pressure on the government to guarantee EU citizens' status after Brexit.

Across the UK more than 60,000 EU nationals are working in the NHS, with one in ten NHS doctors coming from the EU.

Jonathan Ashworth MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health, said: "Our NHS is facing an unprecedented crisis and we simply cannot afford to lose these 60,000 staff.

"And yet Theresa May seems content with using EU workers as bargaining chips in her hard Brexit negotiations."

“EU nationals in our health service deserve to have their futures safeguarded. Labour is leading calls for this substantial minority to immediately be given a right of remain."