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

NHS England figures show 4,906 patients visited A&E at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in February.

That was a drop of 6% on the 5,200 visits recorded during January, and 8% lower than the 5,318 patients seen in February 2021.

The figures show attendances were below the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic – in February 2020, there were 7,722 visits to A&E at 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 23% were via minor injury units.

Across England, A&E departments received 1.8 million visits last month.

That was a decrease of 3% compared to January, but 43% more than the 1.3 million seen during February 2021.

At Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust:

In February:

There were 1,315 booked appointments, down from 1,449 in January

65% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%

65 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 1% of patients

Of those, 11 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in January:

The median time to treatment was 74 minutes

Around 2% of patients left before being treated