Becky (left) and Vickie (right) with their children. When Becky Bincan’s daughter Sofia was four years old, she was diagnosed with autism. “I was scared,” said the mum-of-five, who had noticed that her daughter had very different needs to her twin sister. “I didn’t really know what that meant.”Fast forward to 2023 and the single parent, from northwest London, recalled how she felt like she had no other choice but to take her teen daughter to A&E due to her risk of harm.“As Sofia got older her behaviour became more and more aggressive and dangerous – to herself and to others around her,” said Becky.“This all came to a head when she was taken to hospital in an ambulance in 2023. I didn’t know how to cope. I thought that something really bad was going to happen.”The number of autistic children needing emergency care in England has almost doubled since 2019, according to a new analysis of NHS figures.In 2023/24 alone, almost 21,000 autistic children were admitted to hospital in crisis, compared to just over 11,000 in 2019/20.The analysis was conducted by