Children as young as six going to A&E in mental health crisis — SkimNews
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- NHS England figures show 75,491 children aged 6-17 attended A&E for mental health concerns in 2025, up from 55,525 in 2019—a 36% rise that far outstrips the 8% overall increase in A&E attendances over the period.
- The biggest increases were among children aged 6-9, with attendances covering self-harm, eating disorders, and emotional crisis, some involving children brought in by police.
- Over 6,200 children—around 8% of those attending—waited more than 12 hours in A&E, according to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health's Freedom of Information analysis.
- Dr Sam Jones, the RCPCH's officer for mental health, said emergency departments were "never designed to be a place where children in mental health crisis wait for days at a time" and called the situation a "national crisis."
- Dr Mark Buchanan of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said children were arriving at A&E "by default" because of gaps in community crisis support, while Gemma Byrne of Mind said the current system—where young people qualify for services only when "unwell enough"—"clearly isn't working."
- The Department of Health and Social Care said it is investing in school mental health teams and more than 150 new community mental health hubs, and plans to publish a new mental health strategy later this summer.
Why it matters: The 36% rise in mental health A&E attendances among children—more than four times the 8% overall A&E growth—reveals widening gaps in early-intervention services, with over 6,200 under-18s waiting 12+ hours in environments clinicians describe as frightening and inappropriate. The data puts pressure on the government's delayed mental health strategy to deliver community alternatives for families with nowhere else to turn.
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