Fewer patients visited A&E at Dorset County Hospital last month – but attendances were higher than over the same period last year, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 6,557 patients visited A&E at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in September.

That was a drop of 7% on the 7,043 visits recorded during August, but 4% more than the 6,302 patients seen in September 2021.

The figures show attendances were below the levels seen two years ago – in September 2020, there were 7,126 visits to A&E departments run by Dorset County Hospital.

The majority of attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care – while 36% were via minor injury units.

Across England, A&E departments received 2 million visits last month.

That was a rise of less than 1% compared to August, but 6% fewer than the 2.1 million seen during September 2021.

At Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust:

In September: there were 2,674 booked appointments, down from 2,685 in August

68% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

298 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 5% of patients

Of those, 35 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in August:

The median time to treatment was 143 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times

Around 2% of patients left before being treated