New data from NHS Digital has shown that A&E attendances are twice as high for people in the most deprived areas of England than they are in the least deprived.

The data show that specifically, there were more than twice as many attendances to departments in England for the 10% of the population living in the most deprived areas (3.1 million), compared with the least deprived 10% (1.5 million) in 2018-19.

The report, NHS Digital’s Hospital Accident and Emergency Activity 2018/19, was created in partnership with NHS England and NHS Improvement and also shows that attendances for the 20% of the population living in the most deprived areas accounted for 27% of all A&E attendances.

The data also revealed that Monday is the busiest day of the week and the most popular time of arrival is between 10am and 12pm. Further, the number of reattendances to A&E within seven days was 1.9 million and accounted for 8.7% of all reported attendances.

The report brings together newly published data from NHS Digital’s Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) with previously published data from NHS England and NHS Improvement’s A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions Monthly Situation Reports, and includes attendances from all types of Accident and Emergency departments ranging from major A&E departments, single specialty, consultant-led emergency departments to Minor Injury Units and Walk-in Centres.