The NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare for children and young people shows that in 2009/10, there was a 3.5 fold variation between the top and bottom primary care trusts in England for children under five visiting accident and emergency departments.
Sunderland had the highest number of attendances with 1,232 recorded per 100,000 children, followed by 900 instances in Manchester and 883 in Westminster. Buckinghamshire had the lowest number of attendances with 99 per 100,000 children.
The atlas, produced by the Department of Health, maps the care of children across all Primary Care Trusts (PCT) in England based on 27 health indicators.
It reveals big variances across the amount of money each Primary Care Trust spends per child, with Tower Hamlets spending the most at £343 and West Sussex the least at just £1 per child.
There were also fewer asthma attendances in Tower Hamlets along with Barnet, with the highest number of incidents in Knowsley in Merseyside and Liverpool.
Another indictor included in the report was the percentage of babies totally or partially breastfed at six to eight weeks, with mothers in Hammersmith and Fulham and Hackney more likely to breastfeed as opposed to those in the PCTs of Redcar and Cleveland where just 20 per cent of babies were breastfed.
Professor Terence Stephenson, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said, ‘The extent of variation is a real concern and not explained solely by deprivation. We need to bring the worst up to match the best.
‘The key now is to iron out inconsistencies, make sure guidelines are implemented across the board, use clinical networks and effectively share best practice – so that any unwarranted variation is minimised to make a significant difference to the health of children across England.
‘The Atlas also shows that increased spend on a service does not necessarily result in better quality.’