Online searches for NHS advice on common childhood illnesses surged in 2024, according to new figures compiled by NHS England.
Five of the ten most visited health conditions on the NHS website last year mostly affect children, with three of them seeing significant increases compared to 2023.
Visits to the hand, foot and mouth disease page increased by 46% on the previous year – moving it from 14th place to the third most viewed page in 2024 (2.8 million visits compared with 1.9 million in 2023). Symptoms include mouth ulcers and a raised rash of spots on the hands and feet.
Slapped cheek syndrome saw the biggest increase of the top 10 conditions with visits more than tripling. The condition, which can see a rash develop on children’s cheeks, was the fourth most visited page of 2024 – rising by 220% from 830,000 visits in 2023 to 2.6 million last year.
Scarlet fever was another newcomer to the top 10 list in 2024, taking tenth place with 1.9 million page visits – up 33% from 1.4 million in 2023. The infection mostly affects young children and symptoms include a rash which looks like small, raised bumps and starts on the chest and tummy.
There were also 2 million visits to advice on rashes in babies and children in 2024 and another 2 million to the page on chickenpox.
The advice on Covid-19 and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms remained the first and second most visited health conditions overall, with 3.7 million views for COVID-19 and 3.6 million for ADHD.
The pages on high cholesterol, chest infections and urinary tract infections also appeared in the top 10 list for 2024.
The NHS is reminding people to use the NHS website for advice on treating winter health conditions, including when to visit a GP or other NHS services, after figures published on Thursday showed that there were an average of 5,408 patients a day in hospital with flu last week, including 256 in critical care – 3.5 times higher than the same week last year (1,548 w/e 7 January 2024).
A number of trusts this week have declared critical incidents, citing exceptional demand caused by the colder weather and respiratory viruses. Covid, RSV and norovirus cases remained high with more than 1,100 patients in hospital with Covid every day last week, as well as 626 patients with norovirus – up almost 50% on the same week last year (424). There was also an average of 72 children in hospital with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) every day, up 47% from last year (49).
Duncan Burton, Chief Nursing Officer for England, said: “The nhs.uk website is available whenever you need it and these latest statistics show how useful it is for millions of people every year, especially for parents needing to check advice on their children’s health.
“We saw a significant increase in visits to the pages on several childhood illnesses in 2024 – including hand, foot and mouth disease and slapped cheek syndrome – and the website includes helpful guidance on how to treat children at home as well as when to visit a GP or access other services.
“I hope millions of people will continue to use the NHS website throughout 2025 to help them stay as healthy as possible.”
The 10 most viewed health conditions on the NHS website in 2024 were:
- COVID-19 (3.7 million)
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (3.6 million)
- Hand, foot and mouth disease (2.8 million)
- Slapped cheek syndrome (2.7 million)
- High cholesterol (2.2 million)
- Urinary tract infection (2.2 million)
- Chest infection (2.0 million)
- Rashes in babies and children (2.0 million)
- Chickenpox (2.0 million)
- Scarlet fever (1.9 million)
The NHS website, which is managed by NHS England, is the UK’s biggest health website with 701 million visits throughout 2024 from people seeking information and advice.
It includes over 4,000 pages and provides information about 990 medical conditions. Other health services available on the website include applying for a free UK Global Health Insurance Card for healthcare cover abroad and finding a GP.
