THE heatwave may have been great for tourism but it heaped more pressure on Dorset's hospitals.

Hundreds more people attended Royal Bournemouth Hospital's A&E this July compared with that in 2017, with health bosses announcing an "unprecedented summer surge" due to the heatwave.

NHS England figures show 9,448 people attended the trust’s emergency department last month, 874 more than in July 2017.

Poole Hospital also saw a rise, with 8,561 people attending A&E last month, 631 more than in July 2017.

Nationally record numbers of people attended emergency departments in July, with respiratory problems, dehydration and other illnesses associated with the hot weather.

Donna Kinnair, a Royal College of Nursing director, said: "This summer's heatwave has hit healthcare services hard. With rising A&E attendance and admissions, hospitals up and down the country are now seeing winter conditions in summer, putting extra pressure on services that have barely recovered from the cold weather earlier this year.

"Nurses are seeing more cases of heart failure, renal failure and dehydration – all conditions linked to hotter weather.

"Older people are particularly at risk. With 20 per cent more trusts breaching the four hour A&E target in July compared to June, it's clear our understaffed services are struggling to cope.”

NHS England said that "thanks to the hard work of staff" nine in 10 people were seen, treated and admitted or discharged within four hours.

This held true in the conurbation where 96.2 per cent of patients at Bournemouth and 90.9 per cent at Poole were seen within the Government mandated target window.

Although these figures were also below the 95 per cent target, Bournemouth saw a tiny improvement in its figures on the previous year, while Poole dropped nearly two per cent.

Nick Scriven, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said the increased admissions during the heatwave had given staff no respite from the pressures of winter.

"What is of particular concern now, however, is that the summer months are traditionally the time acute hospitals and frontline staff have to recharge the batteries – this year we have had no respite and draining conditions," he said.

"Last year NHS leaders admitted it took until October to recover from Winter 2017 and we are now only a few months away from the next onslaught."