To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many admissions to accident and emergency departments of people aged under 18-years old with mental health conditions there have been in each year since 2009-10.
Answered on
5 November 2019
Information on unplanned accident and emergency (A&E) attendances1 for patients aged between 0-17 years in England, where the first recorded diagnosis code2 was ‘psychiatric condition’ is shown in the following table.
Year | Number of patients |
2009-10 | 6,161 |
2010-11 | 6,919 |
2011-12 | 8,868 |
2012-13 | 10,728 |
2013-14 | 13,882 |
2014-15 | 14,801 |
2015-16 | 17,448 |
2016-17 | 18,350 |
2017-18 | 21,715 |
2018-19 | 26,593 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Digital
Notes: 1 Attendances do not represent the number of patients, as a person may attend a National Health Service hospital on more than one occasion within the period.
2 The recording of the diagnosis field within the A&E data set is not mandatory.
Changes to the figures over time should be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage and changes in NHS practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care.