General Practitioners
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of GP referrals to secondary care that, following clinical triage, did not proceed to a booked outpatient appointment and were instead returned or redirected to the referring GP in the periods 1 January to 31 March 2026 and 1 April to 30 June 2026.
Answered by Department of Health and Social Care
Pre-referral services such as Advice and Guidance (A&G) are used by general practitioners (GPs) and other clinicians to request quick specialist advice to help decide on the right next steps for patient care, including whether a referral is needed. A&G requests are distinct from a GP referral for clinical treatment, whereby a GP has determined a patient requires secondary care. A&G does not change the clinical threshold for which a GP can refer a patient, which remains a matter of their clinical judgement.
A&G supports timely specialist input, helping to ensure patients receive appropriate and timely assessment, clear next steps, and care in the right setting, such as ongoing management in the community, without the need for unnecessary secondary care.
Data on the number of A&G requests processed is available at the following link:
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