Rising Unscheduled Healthcare Utilisation of Children and Young People: How Does the Rise Vary Across Deprivation Quintiles in UK Nations?

This retrospective population-based analysis assessed variations in urgent healthcare use by children and young people (CYP) across UK nations (England, Scotland and Wales) between 2007 and 2017. The study focused on urgent hospital admissions, short stay urgent admissions (SSUA) and Emergency Department (ED) attendances among CYP aged <25 years, stratified by age groups and Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) quintile groups. A linear mixed model was used to assess trends in healthcare activity over time and across deprivation quintiles. Urgent admissions, SSUA and ED attendances increased across all deprivation quintiles in all studied nations. Increasing deprivation was consistently associated with higher urgent healthcare utilisation. In England, the rise in urgent admissions and SSUA for CYP was slower for CYP from the quintile of greatest deprivation compared those from the least deprived quintile (respective mean differences 0.69/1000/y [95% CI 0.53, 0.85] and 0.25/1000/y [0.07, 0.42]), leading to a narrowing in health inequality. Conversely, in Scotland, urgent admissions and SSUA increased more rapidly for CYP from all deprivation quintiles, widening health inequality. Understanding the differences we describe here could inform changes to NHS pathways of care across the UK which slow the rise in urgent healthcare use for CYP.