Accessing services

There are very few good, representative data on young people’s use of health services that account for both age and deprivation, although improving access to health services is a potentially an important lever for reducing inequalities. What we do know is that young people in the more deprived areas are currently more likely to be admitted to hospital than their peers in the least deprived areas (Chart L1), and this suggests that they may be more likely to reach a crisis point before they get help. This trend is most striking for the older age group, 20-24 year olds. The aim is thus to improve access to services (such as preventative services, or primary care) that help people to manage their healthcare so that hospital admissions become less likely.

Other research has also found that more deprived children and young people are 55% more likely to experience an unplanned hospital admission than the least deprived. And A&E attendances for the most deprived teenagers were nearly 70% higher than the least deprived (Kossarova, L. et al. 2017).

Interestingly, these patterns vary by type of admission. It holds true for hospital admissions specifically for unintentional injuries (such as accidents, falls, fires and burns), as Chart L2 shows. Chart L2 presents these data over time, so we can see this is a consistent trend. It is also interesting to note the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of this time trend, reducing admission rates for all young people regardless of the level of deprivation of their local area.

It also holds true for admissions for drug related admissions. Chart L3 shows that young people from the most deprived areas are twice as likely as their peers in the least deprived areas to be admitted to hospital for substance misuse.

But, as the trend line on Chart L4 demonstrates, the pattern is not replicated for admission for alcohol related conditions. It may be that this is because there is no relationship between general alcohol consumption and area deprivation in the general population of this age (see the ‘health outcomes’ section).

We know that young people access a broad range of services within their local communities, stretching far beyond traditional healthcare services. For example, youth services offer a safe space for young people to access informal support and advice. However, local authorities have had less money available to spend on youth services in recent years, which has resulted in the closure of 750 services since 2010 (YMCA, 2020). Survey data have revealed that there are twice as many youth services available in the least deprived areas (Booth, 2021), meaning that young people in the most deprived areas may have more barriers in accessing services that would be beneficial to improving their health and wellbeing outcomes.

All data correct as of 1st May 2022