Children growing up in England’s most deprived [1] areas are admitted to hospital for potentially avoidable conditions at almost twice the rate of children in the least deprived. This is according to our analysis of NHS England data obtained through a Freedom of Information request.
These are admissions the NHS calls “ambulatory care sensitive conditions”: long-term conditions where timely, effective care outside hospital can often prevent a hospital stay altogether.
In 2024/25 there were 10,426 such admissions among children living in the most deprived fifth of neighbourhoods in England, compared with 4,230 in the least deprived fifth. The full figures going back to 2020/21 can be seen in the table below.
Because more children live in the most deprived areas, admission totals are best compared using rates per 100,000 children. Adjusting the above admission counts to these rates shows that children in the most deprived areas are almost twice as likely to admitted.
The table below adjusts admission counts to rates going back to 2022/23:
The tables above show the stark inequalities between the least and most deprived areas. However, analysing admission rates between the two extreme ends also tells a story about heath inequality, as seen in the table below. Admission rates increase at every step of the deprivation scale.
The above data sits in a wider pattern and demonstrates that thousands of potentially avoidable admissions happen every year because the environments children grow up in make it harder to stay healthy.
Our recent research, The State of Urban Health, found that people in urban areas can expect to live around two years less than those in rural areas, and that the starkest inequalities are found within towns and cities rather than between them.
Neighbourhood health plans are an opportunity for the Government to address these systemic issues and improve children’s health. Bringing healthcare closer to communities, improving access to GPs and strengthening early intervention are all welcome ambitions.
But neighbourhood health cannot simply mean delivering the same services in different buildings.
If we want to prevent children becoming ill in the first place, we need to address the conditions shaping their health, from housing quality to primary care and exposure to air pollution.
It also means changing how we measure success. Local authorities and health and wellbeing boards should be judged not just on access to healthcare, but on whether they’re helping people stay healthy in the first place. Crucially, we need to measure whether the gap in health outcomes between richer and poorer communities is actually narrowing.
Otherwise, we will continue to see stubborn and persistent equality gaps in children’s health outcomes.
[1] We have used the term “deprived” here because it is the language used in the Index of Multiple Deprivation, the Government measure used to group areas. It describes the conditions people live in.
Health effects of air pollution
Our Freedom of Information request finds Children living in the most deprived areas recorded 56,842 hospital admissions for selected respiratory conditions in 2024/25. That disparity is exacerbated by air pollution.
Urban health • Neighbourhood health
Moving care closer to communities is only the start. We must also change the conditions that shape health.
Health effects of air pollution
Racism, poverty and exposure to air pollution are interlinked. The ‘triple burden’ describes how people from racially minoritised and low income backgrounds have a higher risk of health issues due to air pollution.
