DORSET County Hospital is urging people to stay away from A&E unless their condition is serious.

The plea came as it emerged that hundreds of A&E patients were left more than four hours before being dealt with at the department in December–its worst waiting time performance in five years.

Medical professionals warn that services are at breaking point nationally after December saw a record low proportion of patients seen in time – and they fear it will get worse before it gets better.

The required target for A&E departments is to admit, transfer or discharge at least 95% of patients within four hours of arrival.

But NHS statistics show that patients at Dorset County Hospital Foundation Trust waited longer on 749 occasions in December – 8.7% of all attendances.

This was the worst performance for that month since 2015, the earliest period for which data is available.

A spokesperson for Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “Despite ongoing pressure on our Emergency Department (ED) we remain above the national average for A&E wait performance and have made significant improvements to ambulance turnaround times. This is only possible due to a huge amount of commitment and hard work from staff throughout the hospital and we are incredibly grateful for their unwavering dedication to providing the best possible care for our patients.

“Demand on our services is not expected to ease so looking ahead we are aiming to secure funding to expand our Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit as part of plans to develop our site.

“We are asking people to help us manage the pressure on hospital services by using the Emergency Department appropriately.

You should only attend the ED for serious conditions and injuries. For more minor conditions there are other local healthcare services available in Dorset, including the Urgent Treatment Centre at Weymouth Hospital, minor injuries units, GPs and pharmacies.

For full details please visit the Stay Well Dorset website https://staywelldorset.nhs.uk/”

Nationally, just 79.8% of patients were seen within four hours – the worst performance for any month since records began in 2010.

A&E departments dealt with 2.2 million visits in December – a 6.5% rise on the same month the previous year.

And during 2019, the national service saw 1.2 million more A&E attendances than in 2018.

President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Dr Katherine Henderson said there are not enough staff, and far too few hospital beds in which to treat, the rising number of patients.

“These figures show that our emergency departments are at their limits. The current situation is very difficult for both patients and staff,” she added.

“We fear though that things will get worse before they get better. Change is coming but we need election promises by the Government to be kept.”

Dr Simon Walsh, the British Medical Association’s emergency medicine lead, asked: “How many wake-up calls does the Government need?

“These figures are truly alarming and serve as yet further evidence that our NHS simply doesn’t have the resources, staff, or capacity to cope with rocketing demand.”

He said the Government must scrap the “ridiculous” pension taxation system, which has seen many doctors scale back their hours to avoid paying increased tax bills after new rules were introduced.

Dr Walsh added: “We need a long-term fix to this crisis so that doctors can get back to doing what they do best – caring for their patients.”

Professor Stephen Powis, NHS medical director, said: “The continued increase in people’s need for care underlines the need for more beds and staff across hospital and community services, which is why the Government’s commitment to increase the number of nurses by 50,000 and invest in new and expanded facilities will be crucial over the coming years.”