FEELING depressed is the main reason behind three trips to A&E a day in Worcestershire.

New figures from NHS Digital suggest that in the year up to March 2021, feeling depressed was a patient's chief complaint in 1,055 attendances at the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust - an average of three a day.

Mental health charity Mind said it was "deeply concerning" to see so many people needing emergency care for this reason nationally.

The chief complaint is what a clinician views, during a patient’s first assessment, as the main reason that drove them to seek emergency care, but is not an official diagnosis.

Different figures show "depressive disorder" was listed as the first suspected or confirmed diagnosis in 615 A&E attendances at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in 2020-21.

NHS trusts in England recorded 83,500 attendances where a diagnosis of depressive disorder was given to patients in A&E over the same period.

A patient with this diagnosis may not necessarily have been recorded as “feeling depressed” in their initial assessment.

To protect patient confidentiality, numbers are rounded to the nearest five.

Leila Reyburn, policy and campaigns manager at Mind, said: "It is deeply concerning to see so many people feeling so mentally unwell that they need to go to A&E.

"This is supported by data which shows an increasing number of people, including children, being treated by the NHS in a mental health crisis.

"Many people have seen their mental health worsen during the pandemic, which is why it is vital the Government uses the upcoming Spending Review to fund mental health services, so that people can get help early on, before they find themselves in an emergency."

The Government said its NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan sets out the need for the mental health workforce to grow by over 27,000 by 2023-24.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "It is vital that everyone can get the right support when they need it and we are delivering the fastest expansion in mental health services in NHS history, backed by an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023-24.

"This will benefit hundreds of thousands more people."