Community Services Statistics, March 2026

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 1,865,125 referral requests in total during March 2026. Of these, 303,475 referrals were for children and young people, 532,245 referrals were for adults aged 19 to 64, and 1,027,025 were for adults aged 65 and over.

Across all submitters of referral data in March 2026, there were 1,298,240 patients with a referral received during the month, of which 268,235 were children and young people, 438,495 were adults aged 19 to 64, and 589,200 were adults aged 65 and over.

Referral reason is submitted in 71.2% 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, Haematology/Phlebotomy & Healthy Child Pathway.

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