A hospital is urging patients to make the "right choice" about visiting A&E over the winter after a leading doctor warned pressure on casualty departments is "out of control".

Latest figures for the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust show more than 15,000 patients waited four hours or more in A&E over the last year.

National targets for waiting times state 95 per cent of patients should be transferred, discharged or admitted to a ward within four hours of arriving in A&E.

For Dartford and Gravesham, 85 per cent of patients were seen within the target time.

However, the report also showed an increase in the number of patients visiting A&E, with 104,600 people making the trip from 2017-2018 - compared to 102,200 the year before.

Of these patients, 15,317 waited longer than four hours to be discharged, transferred or admitted.

After the national figures were released, Dr Chris Moulton, vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said pressure on A&E had "spiralled out of control."

He added: "If you keep stretching an elastic band, eventually it will snap.

"You don't ask 'why did the elastic band snap?' - it snapped because you stretched it."

Dr Moulton called for more capacity and more beds for acute care to be put into hospitals to meet the demand, as well as an increase in staffing and social care.

"It's not a magic formula. It's a blindingly obvious solution," he said.

A spokesman for Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust said: "The accident and emergency department at Darent Valley Hospital saw close to 105,000 people last year.

"We are dealing with an increasing number of older people coming in with more complex conditions who need to be admitted in many cases.

"However, we also see a number of patients who could be seen more appropriately by their GP, at a walk-in centre or a minor injuries unit.

"This would not only free staff to see patients in genuine need of emergency care faster, but would also ensure those needing minor or non-urgent treatment could also be seen faster, based upon their clinical need.

"Making the right choice could make the NHS better for everyone."

The spokesman also noted there are several walk-in centres, urgent care centres, minor injuries units, dentists and mental health services in the area that could be used instead of A&E in some cases.