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 14,170 patients visited A&E at Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in September.

That was a drop of 6% on the 15,084 visits recorded during August, and 15% lower than the 16,620 patients seen by the trust's two predecessors in September 2021.

The figures show attendances were above the levels seen two years ago – in September 2020, there were 13,922 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 17% were via minor injury units.

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

That was a rise of less than 1% compared to August, but 6% fewer than the 2.1 million seen during September 2021.

At Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust:

In September:

  • There were 931 booked appointments, down from 1,005 in August
  • 57% of arrivals were seen within four hours, against an NHS target of 95%
  • 1,120 patients waited longer than four hours for treatment following a decision to admit – 8% of patients
  • Of those, 204 were delayed by more than 12 hours

Separate NHS Digital data reveals that in August:

  • The median time to treatment was 99 minutes. The median average is used to ensure figures are not skewed by particularly long or short waiting times
  • Around 14% of patients left before being treated