Community Services Statistics, May 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 1,419,700 referral requests in total during May 2022. Of these, 255,210 referrals were for children and young people, 408,715 referrals were for adults aged 19-64, and 754,190 were for adults aged 65 and over.

Across all submitters of referral data in May 2022, there were 1,020,350 patients with a referral received during the month, of which 223,515 were children and young people, 337,870 were adults aged 19-64, and 457,950 were adults aged 65 and over.

A 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 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.