Children and young people in mental health crisis across England face dangerous delays, with some waiting up to three days in emergency departments (A&E) before receiving specialist mental health beds. NHS figures and testimony from healthcare workers reveal a system under severe strain that experts describe as a “catastrophic system-wide failure” in preventing school-age children from reaching crisis.
Scale of the Crisis
Freedom of information requests by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to NHS trusts uncovered alarming trends. The number of under-18s waiting at least 12 hours in A&E before admission to a mental health unit more than trebled, from 237 in 2019 to 802 in 2025. Three trusts—Barts Health and Lewisham and Greenwich trusts in London, and Morecambe Bay trust in Cumbria—reported instances where children spent three or more days waiting in A&E. One A&E nurse described such waits as “extremely distressing” for both patients and staff, while another noted that “A&E is not respite for children with mental health concerns. It can often exacerbate their trauma.”
The RCN estimates that almost 500,000 under-18s have sought help for mental health problems at A&E units since 2019. Among 80 trusts that responded with data, hospitals treated 330,367 such patients between 2019 and 2025. Extrapolating to all trusts, the RCN estimated approximately 492,350 children and young people attended A&E in severe mental health distress.
Staff Concerns and Clinical Impact
Some children who become stuck in A&E become so troubled and disruptive that staff increasingly use medication to sedate them to manage behavior. Dr. Sam Jones from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health noted that children in mental health crisis are “often more unwell than in the past,” with more complex and severe problems, more younger children affected, and rising rates of self-harm and eating disorders.
The RCN and RCPCH are urging ministers and NHS leadership to accelerate rollout of planned mental health emergency units so children can access help away from A&E, calling A&E an “inappropriate or even harmful setting” for those in mental health crisis.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.nytimesnewstoday.com/children-in-mental-health-crisis-waiting-up-to-three-days-in-ae-for-specialist-bed-in-england/