GP referrals to secondary care appear to be accelerating again, with the latest figures from the Department of Health showing a 6% year-on-year rise in the first quarter of 2010/11.
DH figures on outpatient referrals and attendances show the number of GP referrals made from April to June this year increased by 169,000 to 3 million.
The number of other referrals made has also increased, by 136,000 to 1.7 million - an 8.7% increase against the first quarter of 2009/10.
The figures show that, after an apparently successful clampdown by primary care organisations determined to curb the rise in referrals, GP referrals are beginning to creep up again.
Last month primary care tsar Dr David Colin-Thome said that GP contracts would be re-written to ‘reward them for how much they can benefit from being more efficient providers of care in, say, making less inappropriate use of hospital services.
Read more at Pulse.
Tags: Referrals
