The total cost of emergency admissions for mental health among children and young people in England rose from £22.5 million in 2012/13 to £87.3 million in 2021/22, finds research published online in the journal BMJ Open.
The retrospective observational study concludes that costs were driven by increases in both admission rates and lengths of stay.
There is growing concern about the rise in mental health disorders among children and young people. In England, one in five children and young people aged 8 to 25 years had a probable mental disorder in 2023, an increase from one in nine in 2017, according to figures from NHS Digital.
In England, between 2012 and 2022, there was a 65% increase in children and young people needing emergency admission to acute medical wards due to mental health concerns, the researchers had previously reported. However, until now, the economic implications of this rise in admissions were poorly understood.
To systematically break down the costs to the NHS, the researchers analyzed Hospital Episode Statistics data covering all emergency admissions for young people aged 5–18 years in England between 1 April 2012 and 31 March 2022. They then calculated the costs associated with each admission according to the diagnosis, interventions needed, and length of stay.
