Fewer patients visited A&E at the Royal Devon University Healthcare Trust last month – and attendances were lower than over the same period last year, figures reveal.

NHS England figures show 15,084 patients visited A&E at Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in August.

That was a drop of 5% on the 15,909 visits recorded during July, and 9% lower than the 16,626 patients seen by the trust's two predecessors in August 2021.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen two years ago – in August 2020, there were 13,978 visits to A&E departments run by the Royal Devon University Healthcare Trust.

​The majority of attendances last month were via major A&E departments – those with full resuscitation equipment and 24-hour consultant-led care​ – while 19% were via minor injury units.

Across England, A&E departments received 2 million visits last month.

That was a decrease of 8% compared to July, and the same number as were seen during August 2021.

At Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust:

In August:

  • There were 1,005 booked appointments, down from 1,239 in July
  • 58% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%
  • 1,243 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 8% of patients
  • Of those, 284 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in July:

  • The median time to treatment was 118 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times
  • Around 16% of patients left before being treated