Community Services Statistics, November 2021

A service referral is a request for a care service to be provided for a person needing care. This could include patient self-referrals for an appointment to see or to be in contact with a care professional. 

Across all submitters of referrals data, there were 1,359,130 referral requests in total during November 2021. Of these, 281,255 referrals were for children and young people, 391,335 referrals were for adults aged 19-64, and 686,345 were for adults aged 65 and over.

Across all submitters of referral data in November 2021, there were 1,007,975 patients with a referral received during the month, of which 248,900 were children and young people, 327,970 were adults aged 19-64, and 430,960 were adults aged 65 and over.

Referral reason is submitted in 61.6% of records. Where recorded (excluding 'Reason for referral not known' and 'Missing Value / Value Outside Parameters'), the top 3 reasons
for referral are Musculoskeletal Problems, Healthy Child Pathway & Haematology/Phlebotomy.

More detailed information on referral reason, including breakdowns by age band and gender are available in the accompanying data file.