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

NHS England figures show 6,604 patients visited A&E at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in June.

That was a rise of 8% on the 6,091 visits recorded during May, but 5% lower than the 6,917 patients seen in June 2021.

The figures show attendances at the Dorchester hospital were above the levels seen in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic – in June 2020, there were 5,562 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 34% were via minor injury units.

Across England, A&E departments received 2.2 million visits last month.

That was in line with May, and the same number as were seen during June 2021.

At Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust:

In June:

There were 2,507 booked appointments, up from 2,182 in May

69% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

162 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 2% of patients

Of those, five were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in May:

The median time to treatment was 139 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