The 10 per cent of the population living in the most deprived areas of England accounted for twice as many attendees to accident and emergency in 2018-19 as the same proportion of those in the least deprived parts of the country, according to an official report.

NHS Digital revealed that 3.1 million A&E visits were by people in the most deprived areas compared with 1.5 million from those in the least deprived.

Attendances for the 20 per cent of people in the most deprived areas accounted for 27 per cent of all A&E visits – which equated to 5.9 million attendances.

The report is based on data from NHS Digital’s Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England and NHS Improvement. It cited Monday, between 10am and 12pm, as the busiest time of the week for A&E attendances.

There was also a four per cent rise in attendances to A&E in 2018-19 (24.8 million) compared with a 21 per cent increase in 2009-10 (20.5 million). There were 23.8 million A&E visits in 2017-18.