{"id":1975,"date":"2026-05-21T08:07:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T08:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/?p=1975"},"modified":"2026-05-21T08:07:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T08:07:41","slug":"cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/","title":{"rendered":"Cost of emergency hospital admissions for mental health problems in young people almost quadruples over a decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing financial strain on the NHS due to longer stays in hospital<\/em><\/p>\n

Eating disorders and self-harm most common reasons for emergency admissions<\/em><\/p>\n

The total cost of emergency admissions for mental health among children and young people in England rose from \u00a322.5 million in 2012\/13 to \u00a387.3 million in 2021\/22, finds research<\/a> published online in the journal\u00a0BMJ Open<\/i>.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a0figures<\/a>\u00a0from NHS Digital.<\/p>\n

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 was poorly understood.<\/p>\n

For the full press release, visit our Media Hub.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing financial strain on the NHS due to longer stays in hospital Eating disorders and self-harm most common reasons for emergency admissions The total cost of emergency admissions for mental health among children and young people in England rose from \u00a322.5 million in 2012\/13 to \u00a387.3 million in 2021\/22, finds research published online in the […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":517,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,15012],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news","category-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nCost of emergency hospital admissions for mental health problems in young people almost quadruples over a decade - BMJ Open<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cost of emergency hospital admissions for mental health problems in young people almost quadruples over a decade - BMJ Open\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Growing financial strain on the NHS due to longer stays in hospital Eating disorders and self-harm most common reasons for emergency admissions The total cost of emergency admissions for mental health among children and young people in England rose from \u00a322.5 million in 2012\/13 to \u00a387.3 million in 2021\/22, finds research published online in the [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BMJ Open\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-21T08:07:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"lphillips\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"lphillips\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"lphillips\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6c30b976e3d788c27710da36e977cb9a\"},\"headline\":\"Cost of emergency hospital admissions for mental health problems in young people almost quadruples over a decade\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T08:07:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":171,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"In the news\",\"Press release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cost of emergency hospital admissions for mental health problems in young people almost quadruples over a decade - BMJ Open\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T08:07:41+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/21\\\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cost of emergency hospital admissions for mental health problems in young people almost quadruples over a decade\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/\",\"name\":\"BMJ Open\",\"description\":\"The official blog BMJ Open; a place to discuss medical research and discover the Editor's monthly top picks.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"BMJ Open\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-bmjopen.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-bmjopen.png\",\"width\":183,\"height\":34,\"caption\":\"BMJ Open\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6c30b976e3d788c27710da36e977cb9a\",\"name\":\"lphillips\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bc45daa94bc4a63f2ae8edb75dd90cde992bfc01dee7875bc015c8b4dee20f3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bc45daa94bc4a63f2ae8edb75dd90cde992bfc01dee7875bc015c8b4dee20f3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/bc45daa94bc4a63f2ae8edb75dd90cde992bfc01dee7875bc015c8b4dee20f3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"lphillips\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmjopen\\\/author\\\/lphillips\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cost of emergency hospital admissions for mental health problems in young people almost quadruples over a decade - BMJ Open","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cost of emergency hospital admissions for mental health problems in young people almost quadruples over a decade - BMJ Open","og_description":"Growing financial strain on the NHS due to longer stays in hospital Eating disorders and self-harm most common reasons for emergency admissions The total cost of emergency admissions for mental health among children and young people in England rose from \u00a322.5 million in 2012\/13 to \u00a387.3 million in 2021\/22, finds research published online in the [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/","og_site_name":"BMJ Open","article_published_time":"2026-05-21T08:07:41+00:00","author":"lphillips","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"lphillips","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/"},"author":{"name":"lphillips","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#\/schema\/person\/6c30b976e3d788c27710da36e977cb9a"},"headline":"Cost of emergency hospital admissions for mental health problems in young people almost quadruples over a decade","datePublished":"2026-05-21T08:07:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/"},"wordCount":171,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#organization"},"articleSection":["In the news","Press release"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/","name":"Cost of emergency hospital admissions for mental health problems in young people almost quadruples over a decade - BMJ Open","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-05-21T08:07:41+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/05\/21\/cost-of-emergency-hospital-admissions-for-mental-health-problems-in-young-people-almost-quadruples-over-a-decade\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cost of emergency hospital admissions for mental health problems in young people almost quadruples over a decade"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/","name":"BMJ Open","description":"The official blog BMJ Open; a place to discuss medical research and discover the Editor's monthly top picks.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#organization","name":"BMJ Open","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-bmjopen.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-bmjopen.png","width":183,"height":34,"caption":"BMJ Open"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/#\/schema\/person\/6c30b976e3d788c27710da36e977cb9a","name":"lphillips","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc45daa94bc4a63f2ae8edb75dd90cde992bfc01dee7875bc015c8b4dee20f3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc45daa94bc4a63f2ae8edb75dd90cde992bfc01dee7875bc015c8b4dee20f3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bc45daa94bc4a63f2ae8edb75dd90cde992bfc01dee7875bc015c8b4dee20f3b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"lphillips"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/author\/lphillips\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/517"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}