Why are acute admissions to hospital of children under 5 years of age increasing in the UK?

(Opening paragraph) Children’s use of hospital services in the UK has been increasing rapidly since the late 1990s. Findings from the latest QualityWatch report show significant increases in emergency hospital admissions for infants (23%) and young children aged 1–4 years (11%) between 2006/2007 and 2015/2016 (data have been adjusted for population increases in each childhood age group), while children over the age of 15 years showed a decrease in emergency admissions.