Feeling depressed behind more than 300 A+E trips per day
Hospitals in Manchester, Rochdale, Oldham and Bury saw the highest number of people attending A&E with depression
Feeling depressed is the main reason behind more than 300 trips to A&E every day in England, new figures suggest.
NHS Digital data shows that, in the year to March, "feeling depressed" was a patient's main complaint in 114,000 attendances at NHS emergency departments - an average of 312 a day.
Mental health charity Mind said it was "deeply concerning" to see so many people across the country needing emergency care for this reason.
Feeling depressed was the 28th most common reason - out of nearly 150 recorded - for heading to an emergency department nationally in the last year, coming above puncture wounds, back injuries, coughs and sore throats.
Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs hospitals in Bury, Oldham, Rochdale and North Manchester, saw the highest number of A&E attendances for people presenting with feeling depressed as the main symptom (4,785).
It was followed by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, which recorded 3,950, and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, with 2,525.
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.
"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 more than 27,000 by 2023-24.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman 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."
The spokeswoman added that the Government had spent an extra £500 million to help those whose mental health has been impacted by the pandemic, as well as establishing 24/7 urgent helplines at all NHS mental health providers.