COMMUNITY CARE CHILDREN’S ADMISSIONS


The kids are alright


The number of unnecessary hospital admissions for children is on the increase. But what are the reasons behind this and what can be done to address it? CARRIE SERVICE investigates


he emergency admissions rate for children under the age of 15 rose by a massive 28% in the 12 years between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2010, with a consistent increase year-on-year from 2003. The majority of cases were for conditions that could be dealt with in a community setting: admission rates for upper respiratory tract infections rose by 22%; lower respiratory tract infections by 40%; urinary tract infections by 43% and gastroenteritis by 31%. Admission rates for chronic conditions on the other hand actually fell by 5.6%. These figures come from a recent report published in the journal Archives of Disease in


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Childhood, which found that children’s admissions comprising less than one day, ie. non-urgent admissions, increased by twofold (from 172,532 to 335,038) over a 12-year period. The greatest increase was in children under five years of age.


The figures do not reflect a rise in the number of children becoming very sick. According


to the report, the number of deaths of children aged one to 14 years fell by 36% in England and Wales (from 1,581 deaths in 1999 to 1,006 in 2010), which it claims could reflect improved immunisation against causes of meningitis and pneumonia. So if children’s health and immunisation levels are improving, why the rise in emergency admissions?


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