HUNDREDS more people attended Musgrove Park Hospital's A&E department in July, with some health chiefs saying the summer heatwave had an impact.

NHS England figures show that 6,731 people attended the Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s emergency departments last month - 412 more than in July 2017.

Attendances in June were also higher than usual, with 6,401 patients arriving at A&E.

However, Stuart Walker, chief medical officer for the Trust, said the rise in numbers was not solely down to the hot weather.

“Like all hospitals across the country, we continue to see year-on-year growth in A&E attendances," he said.

"The heatwave has affected us, but this increase cannot all be attributed to the hot weather."

Nationally, record numbers of people flooded to emergency departments in July, with respiratory problems, dehydration and other illnesses associated with the hot weather.

Across England almost 2.2 million patients attended A&E in July, 100,000 more patients than the same month in 2017, with emergency admissions also rising by 6.3%.

This included patients visiting minor injury units and walk in centres, which are grouped with A&E departments.

An NHS England spokesman said: “As temperatures soared, the NHS saw an unprecedented summer surge last month with a record 2.2 million patients attending A&E, and, thanks to the hard work of staff, nine in 10 people were seen, treated and admitted or discharged within four hours."

At Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust 91.8% of people were seen, treated and admitted or discharged within the four-hour target period.

That's down on July 2017 when 94.2% were dealt with in four hours. Hospitals are supposed to admit or discharge 95% of patients within the target time. Three years ago 96.4% were seen within four hours.

Mr Walker praised the efforts of staff dealing with the surge in numbers.

"Thanks to the hard work of our teams, we have coped extremely well with the increase in demand and we continue to provide high quality care to our patients," he said.

"We have seen a number of patients with heat related illnesses such as dehydration and we would urge those at risk to take care in the heat, to keep well hydrated and to wear and reapply sun cream when outside.

"We would also encourage people to remember that the A&E department is for clinical emergencies, and other options are available for less urgent conditions such as by using local pharmacies and the NHS 111 telephone service.

"In addition, Somerset also has seven minor injury units located in community hospitals around the county, which are all open seven days a week and have an average waiting time of one hour, and can manage a wide variety of clinical conditions."

Nick Scriven, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said the increased admissions during the heatwave had given staff no respite from the pressures and stresses of winter.

"What is of particular concern now, however, is that the summer months are traditionally the time acute hospitals and frontline staff have to recharge the batteries - this year we have had no respite and draining conditions," he said.

"Last year NHS leaders admitted it took until October to recover from winter 2017 and we are now only a few months away from the next onslaught."

Donna Kinnair, director of nursing policy and practice at the Royal College of Nursing, said: "This summer's heatwave has hit healthcare services hard. With rising A&E attendance and admissions, hospitals up and down the country are now seeing winter conditions in summer, putting extra pressure on services that have barely recovered from the cold weather earlier this year.

"Nurses are seeing more cases of heart failure, renal failure and dehydration - all conditions linked to hotter weather.

"Older people are particularly at risk. With 20% more trusts breaching the four hour A&E target in July compared to June, it's clear our understaffed services are struggling to cope.”