NHS says 300 people per day at A&E because of depression

THREE hundred people a day are turning up at A&E departments “feeling depressed”, according to NHS figures, as concerns grow over access to GPS.

In the year to March, “feeling depressed” was a patient’s main complaint in 114,000 attendances at NHS emergency departments in England, NHS Digital data show.

Leila Reyburn, the campaigns manager at Mind, a mental health charity, said: “It is deeply concerning to see so many people feeling so mentally unwell that they need to go to A&E.”

Feeling depressed was the 28th most common reason – out of nearly 150 recorded – for heading to an emergency department nationally in the past year, coming above puncture wounds,

back injuries, coughs and sore throats. It comes amid increasing concern over difficulties accessing face-to-face GP appointments for some patients.

About 80 per cent of consultations took place in a doctor’s surgery precovid. But the latest monthly figure is just 58 per cent, with little change since officials vowed in May to give all patients the right to face-to-face appointments.

The Daily Telegraph previously reported the number of children attending A&E with serious mental health issues has increased by more than 50 per cent since the pandemic.

The Government said its NHS mental health implementation plan sets out the need for the mental health workforce to grow by more than 27,000 by 2023-24.

A health department spokesman said: “We are delivering the fastest expansion in mental health services in NHS history, backed by an additional £2.3billion a year by 2023-24.”