Community Services Statistics, October 2024

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 1,880,220 referral requests in total during October 2024. Of these, 339,605 referrals were for children and young people, 541,065 referrals were for adults aged 19 to 64, and 998,665 were for adults aged 65 and over.

Across all submitters of referral data in October 2024, there were 1,323,460 patients with a referral received during the month, of which 298,630 were children and young people, 443,530 were adults aged 19 to 64, and 580,500 were adults aged 65 and over.

Referral reason is submitted in 67.1% 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.