The Dorset County Hospital Trust met the national standard for A&E waiting times last year, according to NHS England.

At the trust's major A&E department, 95% of people were discharged, transferred or admitted to a ward within four hours of arriving. The NHS target is 95%.

A slight improvement in waiting times has brought Dorset County Hospital Trust over the target percentage this year. In 2016-17, the figure was 93%.

The 2017-18 report shows that the trust's major A&E department saw the equivalent of 122 people a day last year.

Around 44,600 people went to A&E, up from 43,900 the previous year.

Independent health charity the King's Fund said that A&E performance is a "barometer for the overall performance of the health and care system".

Senior analyst Deborah Ward said: "A&E performance is influenced by activity and pressure in other services, affecting both the number of people going to A&E, and how quickly A&E can treat them."

She said that the availability of social care services to support people at home, and how quickly wards are able to accept people who need to be admitted, were two key examples.

"Some of the pressure comes from within A&E departments," she said. "Staff shortages are particularly concerning, and many have a lack of physical space. Some departments see twice as many patients as they were built for."

“However, it isn’t relentlessly bad news,” she added. “A&E waiting times, whilst longer than we would like, are about average when compared to similar countries, and patient satisfaction is holding up.

“In July 2018, 87% of people said they would recommend the care they received in A&E to their friends and family.”

Although the A&E at the Dorset County Hospital Trust is performing well against the national standard, departments in trusts up and down the country are struggling to meet the target.

Dr Chris Moulton, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said that the pressure on A&E has "spiralled out of control".

He said that the more "badly stretched and understaffed" departments were, the more difficult it is to recruit junior doctors, creating a "vicious circle" of staff shortages.

Dr Moulton still supports the 95% target, saying that it's a "good pressure" on emergency departments to keep as few patients waiting as possible.

"Nobody wants to keep patients waiting," he said. "That's anathema to any emergency doctor."

According to Dr Moulton, the solution is simple - more acute hospital beds, increased capacity in social care, and the staff and facilities to keep those beds open.

He said: "It's not a magic formula. It's a blindingly obvious solution."

In England there were 23.8m visits to emergency departments last year, including urgent care centres, minor injury units and walk-in centres as well as major A&Es.

Of these, 88% spent four hours or less in A&E. This figure has been steadily decreasing - the last time the 95% standard was met was in 2013-14.

Commenting on the national figures, an NHS spokesperson said: "Minor injuries have fuelled a significant rise in A&E visits over the last decade.

"Yet against this backdrop, and with pressures increased by the hottest summer on record, hard-working NHS staff saw, treated and discharged or admitted 50,000 more patients within four hours last month than August last year."