More than 2,350 visits to A&E departments were made by just 10 people in one year, according to new analysis of hospital data.

So frequent were the hospital trips of some of the 10 people identified that they were sometimes going more than once a day.

The research by healthcare monitoring company Dr Foster also revealed that 31,492 people visited A&E in England 10 or more times between June 2017 and May last year.

Patients who attended more than 20 times in a year in 2016 cost the NHS £53m with frequent visitors more likely to live in deprived areas, be aged 21 to 31 and visit A&E at night.

Researchers said the multiple visits put more pressure on NHS services and contribute to the rising cost of healthcare.


"As well as generating high healthcare costs, HIUs (high intensity users) also increase the risk of overcrowding in emergency departments, affecting the safety and care that can be offered to other patients," the report said.

"This relatively small proportion of patients can, therefore, have a significant impact on limited NHS resources and, as such, presents an opportunity to reduce the strain on emergency services."

Image: The analysis found that some patients are attending A&E once a day

It said it is also important to understand why so-called high intensity users are visiting A&E so frequently and that their needs are "potentially not being addressed elsewhere in the system".

The most common conditions frequent visitors are admitted to hospital for are lung disorders like bronchitis and emphysema.

Others include chest and abdominal pain, poisoning by drugs, medications and psychotropic agents and alcohol-related disorders.

The report called on the government to invest more in public health programmes to support the physical and mental health of younger people, particularly around alcohol and drug misuse.

Hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved in the next decade, as the government has revealed a long-term plan for improving the NHS.

An NHS England spokesman said a High Intensity User programme was being rolled out across more of the country following a successful trial in Blackpool.

The trial reduced A&E visits and saved the NHS more than £2m.

He added: "The NHS long-term plan sets out a range of options for people to get urgent and emergency care outside A&E, including NHS 111 online and seven day crisis care for mental ill health.

"This is precisely the sort of supportive and positive action that is improving patient care while reducing pressure on services the NHS, which will be ramped up through the long-term plan for the NHS."

Dr Foster's analysis of NHS Digital's hospital episode statistics focused on high intensity users who are defined as patients who attend A&E 10 or more times in 12 months.