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Health trusts which offered employees free flu jabs say they will repeat the exercise next year after avoiding high levels of staff sickness.
HR managers say it is impossible to judge exactly how effective the vaccinations were. But they say the number of staff reporting sick with flu has not been as high as expected, and urged the private sector to follow suit.
Nigel Youngman, deputy human resources director at Norfolk Mental Healthcare Trust, said: "We have not had any undue problem with flu. We did provide flu jabs free to any of our staff who wanted them in October.
"It was the first year we have done it and about 230 staff out of 1,800 took that up. I believe a fair proportion of those were nursing staff.
"It is difficult to tell to what extent it has been successful but I think we would be keen to repeat it."
John Adsett, head of personnel project development at Basildon and Thurrock General Hospital Trust, said it also offered free vaccinations last October.
"We were particularly targeting nursing staff. We have been hit but not as badly as some places."
Vaccine manufacturer Medeva said it sells the jab for around £4 a dose.
