Page Last updated 14-12-2010
This section focuses on unintentional injury to children from the age of 0-16 years. Unintentional (sometimes called accidental) injury is used to describe an injury occurring as a result of an unplanned and unexpected event which occurs at a specific time from an external cause.
Unintentional injuries continue to be a major health problem throughout the UK although the number of children’s accidents has been declining steadily. In 2002, over 2 million children are taken to a hospital after having an accident and around half of these accidents happen at home. Many more children are hurt in accidents but are treated at home or by a family doctor and so are not counted in official statistics. In 1997 over 2.5 million children were taken to hospital after an accident. In 1998 this fell to 2.4 million and the number dropped again to 2.28 million by 1999. The 2002 figure was 2.01 million. Accidental deaths also show a steady fall although children from the poorest families are at much greater risk than those from the most affluent households. In 2005, about 250 children aged under 15 years died in the UK as the result of accidents.