Version: 1.0.0 | Published: 3 Sep 2026 | Updated: 0 days ago
Summary
Documentation
Associated Media:
Description:
Primary Care Referral Requests capture the structured record of referrals made by GPs and other primary care clinicians to external services. They show who the patient was referred to, why, when, and with what supporting clinical information. They are essential for understanding patient flow from primary to secondary care.
Primary Care Referral Requests provide a crucial view of how patients move from GP care into specialist services, which is essential for improving access, safety, and outcomes.
The data set includes:
1. Referral destination
- Hospital specialties (e.g., cardiology, dermatology, gastroenterology)
- Community services (physio, mental health, podiatry, social prescribing)
- Two Week Wait (2WW) urgent cancer pathways
- Diagnostics (imaging, endoscopy, community diagnostic centres)
- Allied health services (OT, speech & language therapy)
2. Reason for referral
- Coded clinical indication (SNOMED)
- Free text reason (where recorded)
- Linked diagnosis or problem
- Symptoms prompting referral
3. Supporting clinical information
- Relevant observations (BP, HbA1c, symptoms, test results)
- Medication history
- Previous referrals
- Risk factors or red flag indicators
4. Metadata including Referral date/time, Ordering clinician, Practice and organisation identifiers, Referral priority (routine, urgent, 2WW), Referral status (requested, sent, cancelled), Whether referral was electronic (eRS) or manual.
What Referral Requests excludes:
- They do not confirm that the referral was accepted or an appointment booked
- They do not include hospital outcomes (diagnosis, treatment, discharge)
- They do not include private referrals unless manually entered
- They do not include dispensing or prescribing information
Researchers would find the below most important or relevant when using Primary Care Referral Requests:
1. Access to specialist care
Referral data reveals:
- How quickly patients are referred after symptoms appear
- Variation in referral rates between practices
- Inequalities in access to specialist services
2. Early diagnosis and cancer pathways
Referral requests are crucial for:
- Studying 2WW cancer referral patterns
- Identifying delays in cancer pathways
- Understanding variation in red flag symptom referral behaviour
3. Quality and safety
Researchers can analyse:
- Appropriateness of referrals
- Missed opportunities for referral
- Follow up after abnormal results
- Variation in referral thresholds
4. Chronic disease management
Referral patterns show:
- Escalation to specialist care
- Use of community services for long term conditions
- Variation in multidisciplinary care
5. Inequalities in care
Linked demographics allow:
- Studying variation in referral rates by ethnicity, age, deprivation
- Identifying underserved groups
- Understanding barriers to specialist access
6. Linking across datasets
Referral requests can be linked to Observations (clinical context), Appointments (encounter context), Medication Orders/Statements, Hospital datasets (SUS)
This enables full pathway research from symptom → referral → specialist care → outcome.
Using Primary Care Referral Requests, researchers can:
- Improve early diagnosis, especially for cancer and cardiovascular disease
- Reduce inequalities by identifying variation in referral behaviour
- Strengthen safety by detecting missed or delayed referrals
- Enhance chronic disease management through better escalation pathways
- Support service planning by analysing demand for specialist and community services.
In Pipeline:
Available
Coverage
Spatial:
- United Kingdom
- England
- London
Typical Age Range Min:
0
Typical Age Range Max:
150
Material Type:
None/not available
Follow Up:
> 10 Years
Pathway:
This dataset contains all Primary Care Referral Requests for London patients.
Each patient will be identified using an unique patient key, this can be used to
link to other London SDE datasets that will help track the patient pathway.
Provenance
Origin
Purpose:
- Administrative
- Care
- Other
Dataset Type:
- Health and disease
- Treatments/Interventions
Dataset Sub-Type:
- Others
- Others
Source:
EPR
Collection Source:
Primary care - Clinic
Image Contrast:
No
Temporal
Publishing Frequency:
Monthly
Distribution Release Date:
01 September 2026
Start Date:
01 April 2000
Time Lag:
1-2 weeks
Accessibility
Access
Access Rights:
London Secure Data Environment Enquiry Form
Access Service Category:
TRE/SDE
Access Service:
Researchers will have access to a secure workspace via an airlocked Azure
Virtual Desktop with a specific username and password, MFA (multi-factor
authentication) and OAUTH (open authentication). Researchers will get specific
access to a relevant subset of the datasets that are present in the SDE
catalogue for their project and will be able to carry out their research within
the safe haven. There are restrictions applied which prevent the researchers
from taking data out of the safe haven. Once the research is completed the
London SDE admin team will need to be contacted for any requests to egress
summary analysis out of the safe haven which will not breach secure data
environment disclosure control standards.
Access Request Cost:
Access costs will be determined on a project-by-project basis and will depend on
the specific data requirements, platform setup, and any additional services
needed to deliver the project successfully.
Delivery Lead Time:
1-2 months
Data Controller:
Participating London health care organisations act as Joint Data Controllers
within the London SDE. These organisations include for example GP Practices and
Acute Providers from across London.
Data Processor:
The data processor for the London Secure Data Environment (SDE) is primarily
managed by OneLondon, a partnership of London's five integrated care systems
(ICSs) and three health innovation networks. NHS North East London ICB hosts
OneLondon and operates the London Data Service (LDS) as a data processor on
behalf of those organisations, whilst Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
hosts the London Analytics Platform (LAP), with Imperial NHS Trust acting as the
data processor for data processing activities undertaken within the platform.
Jurisdiction:
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Usage
Data Use Limitation:
No restriction
Data Use Requirements:
- Collaboration required
- Institution-specific restrictions
- Project-specific restrictions
- Time limit on use
- User-specific restriction
Resource Creator:
London SDE
Format and Standards
Vocabulary Encoding Scheme:
- NHS NATIONAL CODES
- LOCAL
- SNOMED CT
Conforms To:
- NHS DATA DICTIONARY
- LOCAL
Language:
English
Format:
Text
Enrichment and Linkage
Investigations:
Linkable Datasets
PID
Title
URL
Each patient will be identified by an unique patient key that can be used to link to all other datasets available within London SDE Platform
Observations
Statistical Population
Population Description
Population Size
Measured Property
Observation Date
Events
109062406
Count
02 September 2026
Persons
Distinct Patient Count
7942656
Count
02 September 2026
Origin
Name:
NWL Data Catalogue