More than 80,000 children are left waiting over a year for NHS community care, almost 11 times the adult figure

The number of children facing waits of more than a year jumped 129% over two years to March 2026, even as equivalent adult waits declined, according to the Care Quality Commission's State of Care report. Community paediatric services handling autism and ADHD assessments drove the bulk of the backlog. The waiting time before children reach mental health services rose by nearly a third. School nurse and health visitor numbers have continued to fall.

Experts described the delays as "wholly unacceptable", warning that children's conditions are becoming harder to treat.

Ronnie Cheung of the Royal College of Paediatrics said the waits were damaging children's education and affecting their families.

Hospital admissions for bronchiolitis remain around half as high again as the level recorded a decade ago.