Community Services Statistics, January 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 1,821,305 referral requests in total during January 2026. Of these, 277,295 referrals were for children and young people, 499,375 referrals were for adults aged 19 to 64, and 1,042,090 were for adults aged 65 and over.

Across all submitters of referral data in January 2026, there were 1,243,925 patients with a referral received during the month, of which 243,320 were children and young people, 408,495 were adults aged 19 to 64, and 589,665 were adults aged 65 and over.

Referral reason is submitted in 71.4% 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.