HEALTH leaders in Colchester and Tendring have pleaded with European workers to stay in the United Kingdom for the sake of the NHS.

Nearly 300 non-British nurses have left Colchester Hospital since the Brexit referendum in June 2016.

The call comes as Brexit looms this March 29.

Bosses including Nick Hulme, chief executive of the trust running Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals, say the contribution of employees who originate from outside the UK is strongly valued and politics should be put aside.

Mr Hulme said: "Wherever you sit about your views on Brexit, the one thing we absolutely know is that we simply could not run health and social care services or indeed the voluntary sectors without the support from our colleagues from Europe.

"I want to be very clear as a key employer, employing over 10,000 people in the local system that we welcome your contribution.

“We encourage you to stay, we want you to continue to give the best you can for local people and we will continue to support you to do that. Please recognise the important contribution you make.”

The hospital trust is part of the Suffolk & North East Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP), which issued the plea.

Partnership members work together to draw up plans to improve health and care in the areas they serve.

Mr Hulme added since the Brexit referendum, "many people who originate outside the UK have been anxious about the future and perhaps have felt that they are not welcome to work here.

"This is certainly not the case."

The trust running Colchester and Ipswich Hospitals employs about 10,000 people.

Since the Brexit referendum in June 2016, a total of 480 non-British registered nurses have left.

Of these 270 worked at Colchester Hospital and most returned home to Italy, Spain and the Philippines with others departing to locations all over Europe and the rest of the world.

However, the trust said it could not confirm whether this has been a direct consequence of Brexit fears as they did not have the data to show staff reasons for leaving.

When Britain leaves the EU, NHS staff will be able to apply for either settled or pre-settled status and those in North East Essex are being urged to do so.

The scheme has been designed to provide EU citizens and their families with a route to living and working in the UK beyond December 31 2020 and a fee for the application process was recently waived.