CYP Now - Pandemic sparks decline in children’s health, research finds

Urgent GP referrals for young people have surpassed pre-pandemic levels sparking concerns that children’s health is deteriorating, experts say.

Urgent GP referrals for children's hospital care have passed pre-pandemic levels, according to researchers. Picture: Adobe Stock

The latest QualityWatch report, compiled by The Health Foundation and the Nuffield Trust, shows the “extensive” effects of the pandemic on the overall health and care of children and young people.

It highlights an increase of up to 47 per cent in urgent referrals from GPs to hospital care for children and young people in December 2021.

Since then, urgent referrals for this pathway have overtaken figures recorded from before the pandemic started, it explains.

The report outlines how there was an almost 80 per cent drop in urgent referrals in April 2020 due to the spread of Covid-19 cases.

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