RCPCH calls on the government to urgently set out how it will prioritise children’s mental health as analysis of NHS England data shows a 36% rise in mental health-related attendances since 2019, alongside a growing number facing extreme waits before they can access care.
The figures, obtained by RCPCH through a Freedom of Information request submitted to NHS England in April 2026, show that in 2025, 75,491 children and young people aged 6–17 attended Emergency Departments with a recorded mental health concern. This represents a 36% increase since 2019, when there were 55,525 attendances.
The rise has been fastest amongst the youngest children. Attendances among 6–9-year-olds increased by 62% over the same period, from 3,870 in 2019 to 6,269 in 2025. This is faster rate of increase than any other age group. This finding is particularly worrying given the vulnerable nature of young children’s neurodevelopment and the potential of suffering for those children longer term without early intervention.
The data also reveals a growing number of children becoming, in effect, stuck in Emergency Departments while they wait for appropriate mental health support and a safe place to be discharged to:
- The number of children and young people staying more than 12 hours in A&E rose by 217%, from 1,964 in 2019 to 6,235 in 2025.
- Within this, the number staying more than 72 hours rose by 514%, from 55 in 2019 to 338 in 2025.
Emergency Departments are often sought in absence of proper pathways, but they are not designed to meet the needs of children and young people experiencing acute mental health problems. This also puts strain on the hospital system and affects wider public healthcare. It emphasises that children and young people with mental health needs must be in psychologically safe and trauma informed settings.
RCPCH says the figures point to a system under growing strain in emergency care as well as across the mental health, community and social care services that should be supporting children before a crisis point is reached.
The College is urging the UK government to use the upcoming Mental Health Strategy to address the crisis in children’s mental health. It is seeking a greater focus on prevention, improved access to early support and community mental health services and strengthened crisis pathways so that fewer children reach crisis point, and those who do are seen quickly and safely.
See 'Children in crisis' report
Dr Sam Jones, RCPCH Officer for Mental Health said:
Behind every one of these figures is a child or young person in distress, and a family who didn't know where else to turn. Emergency Departments are a vital safety net, but they were never designed to be a place where children in mental health crisis wait for days at a time.
Our health system is under mounting pressure. More children are reaching crisis point, and when they do, they are waiting longer, often far longer, to get the help they need despite the best efforts of paediatricians to care for these children.
This is a national crisis that will only get worse without urgent intervention from government and NHS leaders. No child should be spending 12 hours or more in A&E let alone days to weeks while they wait for the right support. The scandal has to end.
Dr Ronny Cheung, RCPCH Officer for Health Services said:
This must be a wake-up call for government. The growing number of children reaching crisis point with their mental health is deeply alarming, particularly among younger children. Without urgent action to provide support earlier, we risk storing up serious problems for the future, including more young people falling out of education, employment and training, where poor mental health is already a major driver.
Tackling children’s mental health must be at the heart of any plan to improve life chances and opportunity. The Prime Minister and Health Secretary must urgently set out how they plan to address the crisis.
Royal College of Nursing Chief Nursing Officer, Professor Lynn Woolsey said:
The rise in children presenting to A+E in mental health crisis is a damning indictment of a failing system, with desperate families left with nowhere else to turn. Nursing staff do everything they can for those who attend A+E, but the reality is that these places are wholly unsuitable for children in mental health distress. They’re noisy, brightly lit, and long waits in these conditions can often cause those struggling to deteriorate further.
There is an urgent need to improve mental health provision for children and young people. This requires new and sustained investment in specialist mental health nursing and preventative and community-based roles such as health visitors and school nurses. These nursing professionals are crucial in providing advice and early interventions that keep our youngest healthy, but their numbers have collapsed in recent years.
The government’s new mental health A+Es and community mental health centres are a step in the right direction, but we need the roll-out to be expanded and accelerated with robust workforce plans. Alongside this, we also need to see a strategy to tackle the determinants of mental ill health which can include poverty and social isolation.
Gemma Byrne, Policy & Influencing Manager at Mind, said:
A&E can be a frightening environment for anyone in mental health crisis, let alone a child. Making them spend more than 12 hours there is simply unacceptable.
The fact that children and young people are presenting at A&E for their mental health in the first place shows they aren’t getting the support they need early enough. The current system, where many mental health services only provide support when young people are considered 'unwell enough' to qualify, clearly isn't working. We need to shift to a model of same-day open access mental health support, when anyone who needs help can get quality care straight away. The UK government has the opportunity to transform our mental health system in the upcoming mental health strategy by committing to this, and by further expanding the roll out of Young Futures Hubs, so that no young person is left without the care they need.
Dr Guy Northover, Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, said:
RCPCH's analysis is a reminder of the pressures facing children, families and the services that support them. It is particularly worrying to see such a sharp rise in the number of younger children attending A&E with mental health concerns. Too often, children and young people cannot access care until they reach crisis point, even though earlier help prevents that, with benefits for their health, their education and their family life.
Where a child then spends many hours in an emergency department, it is often a sign of wider pressures across the system. Children may be waiting for an inpatient bed, a placement or the support needed to return home safely. A&E should be a place of assessment and urgent care, not somewhere children are left waiting because the next step in their care in unavailable. Specialist CAMHS liaison services are also vital. Children and young people's mental health needs require age-appropriate expertise, yet dedicated CAMHS liaison provision remains uneven across England.
The forthcoming cross-government Mental Health Strategy is an important opportunity to improve access to early support and to ensure children and young people get timely care when they need it. Investing in children's mental health is an investment in their future, as well as in the long-term health of our society.