Analysis of NHS England data, obtained and reported by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), shows a marked increase in children attending hospital emergency departments with a recorded mental health concern. In 2025 there were 75,491 such attendances—a 36% increase compared with 2019. The RCPCH report highlights both rising attendances and increasing lengths of stay while children await onward care or safe discharge arrangements.
The college has interpreted these trends as evidence that children in mental health crisis are increasingly presenting to emergency departments, which were not designed to meet their specific needs.
The rise in attendances was not evenly distributed across ages. The sharpest proportional increase occurred among children aged 6–9, with attendances up 62% over six years—from 3,870 in 2019 to 6,269 in 2025. Other age bands also saw rises: a 41% increase among 9–15 year olds, a 28% increase among 16 year olds, and a 19% increase among 17 year olds.
These age-stratified data underline that younger children are increasingly represented among those attending A&E with mental health problems, a trend the RCPCH describes as particularly worrying.
The report also documents large increases in prolonged waits. The number of children staying more than 12 hours in emergency departments rose by 217%, from 1,964 in 2019 to 6,235 in 2025. The proportion of attendances with waits exceeding 12 hours more than doubled—rising from 3.4% (about 1 in 29 attendances) in 2019 to 7.7% (about 1 in 13) in 2025.
Very long stays also increased: 338 patients aged 6–17 were recorded as remaining in emergency departments for more than 72 hours in 2025, up from 55 in 2019. The RCPCH report uses the term “stuck” to describe children who remain in A&E while alternative arrangements or placements are sought.
The RCPCH emphasises that many families and carers bring children to A&E because they do not know where else to turn, and because community-based support is not available or accessible at the point of crisis. Some children presenting in mental health crisis do not require hospital admission but cannot be safely discharged because families need additional support, community services are not immediately available, or suitable placements cannot be secured.
The college reports that disputes or coordination failures between health, mental health, and social care services frequently prolong stays in emergency departments. These systemic gaps mean that children who are clinically assessed as not needing admission nonetheless remain in A&E while safe alternatives are sought.
RCPCH officers responded strongly to the figures. Ronny Cheung, the RCPCH officer for health services, called the data a “wake-up call,” warning that without earlier support the system risks storing up serious problems, including more young people falling out of education, employment, and training. Sam Jones, RCPCH officer for mental health, noted that behind every figure is a child in distress and a family that did not know where else to turn, and that emergency departments were never designed to be places where children wait for days.
Mark Buchanan, chair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s mental health subcommittee, said patients were ending up in A&E by “default” because the services they need were unavailable or inaccessible, and that prolonged stays often follow from disputes between services.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said no child should reach crisis point before receiving support and outlined recent policy actions: making mental health support easier to access in schools and colleges and opening more than 150 new mental health facilities, including community centres offering same-day, walk-in support. These measures were presented as intended to help young people get help earlier and closer to home.
The RCPCH is urging the government to use its forthcoming mental health strategy to address the pressures identified in the report. The college stresses the need for earlier, accessible community support to prevent crisis presentations and to reduce the number of children who become “stuck” in emergency departments while awaiting safe discharge or placement.
Clinically, the findings highlight two linked issues: an increase in mental health crisis events among children, notably younger children, and system-level failures to provide timely, appropriate alternatives to emergency department care. The professional bodies quoted in the report call for improved coordination across health, mental health, and social care services, and for investments that enable prompt access to community-based support and suitable placements when needed.
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Children in crisis: Mental health pressures in emergency departments. September 2026. (Referenced in the BMJ news analysis.)