MORE than 70 Dorset residents spent over 12 hours in A&E waiting to be admitted in March this year.

A further 964 patients waited between four and 12 hours, according to NHS England data.

A total of 5,866 emergency admissions were made to University Hospitals Trust in Dorset.

Of these, 74 people waited over 12 hours between the time that hospital made the decision to admit them and the time they were admitted.

A further 964 waited between four and 12 hours to be admitted, a total of 16.4 per cent of all admissions.

Made with Flourish

These figures come as University Hospitals Dorset Trust (UHD) confirmed reports of excessive waits at emergency departments across the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Poole Hospital in March.

READ MORE: 18-hour A&E waits and queues of ambulances at BCP hospitals

Dr Alyson O’Donnell, chief medical officer at UHD, said: “Significant pressures on emergency departments across the county have continued to affect our hospitals. We continue to see an increase in walk in attendances and ambulance drop offs.

"It can take longer to move patients from our emergency departments to a busy hospital bed. While Covid-19 restrictions have eased, restrictions in our hospitals have continued to keep our patients, staff and visitors safe.

“To try and ease pressures, our emergency departments are piloting a range of initiatives aimed at ensuring patients receive the most appropriate care and that our departments only see those most in need of their specialised services.

"For example, patients who walk in to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital will now check in at our urgent treatment centre instead of our emergency department, in an effort to get patients to the right care quicker. We are also working hard to ensure that we make access to same day emergency care a priority.

“Our staff continue to work incredibly hard under difficult circumstances and will continue to prioritise our most poorly patients first. We encourage patients to access NHS services wisely and find alternative and appropriate support elsewhere, including GPs, urgent treatment centres (UTCs), pharmacies and NHS 111.”