Community Services Statistics, October 2022

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 1,460,565 referral requests in total during October 2022. Of these, 335,140 referrals were for children and young people, 399,220 referrals were for adults aged 19 to 64, and 725,040 were for adults aged 65 and over.

Across all submitters of referral data in October 2022, there were 1,076,445 patients with a referral received during the month, of which 302,430 were children and young people, 332,950 were adults aged 19 to 64, and 439,955 were adults aged 65 and over.

Referral reason is submitted in 62.2% of records. Where recorded (excluding 'Reason for referral not known' and 'Missing Value / Value Outside Parameters'), the top three reasons for referral are Healthy Child Pathway, Musculoskeletal Problems & Haematology/Phlebotomy.

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