Dorset · University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
A&E at Poole Hospital
How long a visit to A&E at Poole Hospital took in September 2026, from NHS England’s figures for the hospital’s major and specialist A&E.
How long an A&E visit takes
- Within 4 hours
- 70%
- admitted, transferred or sent home within 4 hours of arriving
- 9 percentage points higher than England (61%)
- Over 12 hours
- 6%
- spent more than 12 hours in A&E from arriving
- 4 percentage points lower than England (10%)
- Over 4 hours
- 2,435
- attendances that took longer than 4 hours
- Attendances in September 2026
- 8,130
The time runs from arriving at A&E until the patient is admitted to a ward, transferred or sent home, so waiting for tests and for a bed is part of it. This is a fact about the A&E department, not a grade or a verdict. Departments see different patients: one that admits more people, or takes the most seriously ill, will often have longer times.
NHS England publishes the latest month (September 2026) as provisional and may revise it next month.
Source: NHS England, A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions, Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS) tables, October 2025 to September 2026 (published 8 October 2026). Open Government Licence. NHS England publishes the hospital figures as experimental statistics, as received from hospitals, with counts rounded to the nearest 5.
Who stays longest?
The time is not only queueing: tests, treatment and waiting for a bed are part of it.
- Admitted to a ward: 23% within 4 hours, against 80% of people who went home or elsewhere. Waiting for a bed is part of the time.
- Children under 16: 90% of 1,670 attendances within 4 hours.
Month by month
The share seen within 4 hours, month by month over the last year. The scale runs from 0 to 100%.
| Month | Within 4 hours |
|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | 65% |
| Nov 2025 | 62% |
| Dec 2025 | 65% |
| Jan 2026 | 63% |
| Feb 2026 | 64% |
| Mar 2026 | 67% |
| Apr 2026 | 69% |
| May 2026 | 69% |
| Jun 2026 | 69% |
| Jul 2026 | 71% |
| Aug 2026 | 69% |
| Sep 2026 | 70% |
70% in September 2026. England: 61%.
The trust as a whole
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust as a whole: 72% of all its A&E attendances within 4 hours in September 2026, counting every type of A&E it runs, urgent treatment centres included. England: 74%.
The figures are for type 1 and 2 departments: major emergency departments open 24 hours, and specialist ones such as eye hospitals. Urgent treatment centres, minor injury units and walk-in centres are not included. The trust’s own figure counts every type.
More A&E departments in Dorset
The share seen within 4 hours at each one in September 2026.
In alphabetical order, not a ranking.
Data updated
The month each source’s data runs to, and when its publisher released it.
- A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions: (published 8 October 2026)
Sources
- Contains public sector information from NHS England licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0: A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions, monthly, and its ECDS Performance tables. Contains Office for National Statistics data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.