Community Services Statistics, October 2023

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 1,618,810 referral requests in total during October 2023. Of these, 306,135 referrals were for children and young people, 469,555 referrals were for adults aged 19 to 64, and 842,185 were for adults aged 65 and over.
 

Across all submitters of referral data in October 2023, there were 1,155,150 patients with a referral received during the month, of which 269,550 were children and young people, 386,845 were adults aged 19 to 64, and 497,870 were adults aged 65 and over.

Referral reason is submitted in 62.7% 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.