New figures by NHS England show that online searches for advice on common childhood illness have risen in 2024, with five in ten of the most visited health conditions on the NHS website mostly affecting children. Three of these illnesses have seen significant increases since 2023.

Visits to the NHS hand, foot and mouth webpage increased by 46 per cent as compared with the previous year, making it the third most viewed page in 2024, up 900,000 visits since 2023 (1.9 million to 2.8 million).

Slapped check syndrome, which is commonly identified in children as a red rash across the cheeks, was the fourth most visited page of 2024, with visits more than tripling. The webpage had a 220 per cent increase in visits from last year, from 830,000 to 2.6 million.

Scarlet fever took tenth place, a newcomer to the top ten list in 2024. The page had 1.9 million visits last year, and had increased by 33 per cent from 1.4 million in 2023.  The infection mostly affects young children and can be recognised by a small, raised rash starting on the chest and stomach.

In 2024, advice webpages on rashes in babies and children as well as advice on chickenpox received two million visits each. Advice on COVID-19 and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) remained the first and second most visited health conditions overall, with 3.7 million views and 3.6 million views, respectively.

The NHS encourages people to use their website for advice on treating winter health conditions, as well as on when to visit a GP or other NHS services. This follows recent figures that show that there were an average of 5,408 patients daily in hospital with flu last week, with 256 in critical care, which is 3.5 times higher than the same week last year (1,548).

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 illness 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.”