The annual NHS cost of treating children and young people with mental health crises in acute specialist wards in England quadrupled to £87.5m between 2012 and 2022, a new study led by UCL researchers has found.
This research BMJ Openanalyzed data on all admissions for 5 to 18-year-olds to general acute care wards in acute NHS trusts in England from 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2022, collected from NHS Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data.
General acute wards are specialized wards designed to provide rapid assessment, treatment and care to patients. These wards act as a bridge between emergency departments, general practitioners and other wards, but are primarily designed for short-term stays and do not provide specialist mental health services. Examples of specialist mental health services include eating disorder units.
Children and young people are most commonly admitted to general wards in accident and emergency wards because they are too unwell to go home or because it is not safe to do so.
Researchers previously reported that the number of children and young people admitted to these units in England due to mental health concerns increased by 65 per cent over the 10 years they looked at (2012-2022).
They have now calculated the cost of increasing enrollment and found that it will rise from £22.5m in 2012 to £87.5m in 2022.
Part of the reason for this increase, they said, was a sharp increase in annual hospitalizations for eating disorders, which increased by 515% from 478 in 2012 to 2,938 in 2022.
Researchers said longer hospital stays also contributed significantly to the increased costs.
Senior author Dr Lee Hudson (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital) said: “Hospitals appear to be absorbing the costs of this country’s mental health crisis, even though they are not always well-equipped to manage them.”
“Acute wards are important places to care for young people with mental health concerns, particularly those with co-occurring physical health problems such as hunger due to eating disorders.
“However, appropriate ward environments may not be in place to provide this care and the staff working there may require further training and support with relevant skills.”
In the UK, NHS care for children with mental health problems is provided by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
In a report funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, researchers show that referrals to CAMHS more than doubled between 2017 and 2022.
However, they added that while investment in child and young people’s mental health services increased during this period, high demand meant that many children and young people could not be treated and instead had to be admitted to acute care services for care.
They are calling for further investment in community-based services and early intervention.
Admissions are driven by both increased demand and high levels of risk.
These are kids who are so sick because of their mental health that they can’t stay home. We found that hospitalizations due to self-harm are increasing, and hospitalizations due to eating disorders, which tend to last longer, are also increasing. ”
Dr Lee Hudson, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond Street Hospital
The first cost to examine national trends in mental health admissions of children and young people to acute care units in England has been made, based on research published last year.
The researchers calculated these costs using the National Cost Collection (NCC) database, the official source of costing data for NHS activities in England.
Prices for NHS services are set using a system based on a ‘currency’, a payment unit specific to health services that represents the complete ‘curse of care’ from admission to discharge.
For hospitalization and accident and emergency services, there are over 2,800 currencies associated with approximately 26,000 specific diagnoses and treatments.
Researchers calculated the cost of each child and young person’s mental health admission by matching data from the HES and NCC.
Because the study covered hospitalizations up to the age of 18, the acute wards included both pediatric and adult wards. We also looked at acute NHS hospitals in England (so we did not cover the whole of England or specialist hospitals without acute trusts, such as Great Ormond Street Hospital).
This research was supported by the NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre.
sauce:
university college london
Reference magazines:
Pilver, H. others. (2026). Costs of emergency admissions to acute general wards for mental health problems in children and young people in England from 2012 to 2022: a retrospective observational study. BMJ Open. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-107143. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/16/5/e107143.full
