GP referrals - Addressing the ‘hidden’ waiting list
The research on GP referrals was based on the experiences of 1,518 people including right here in Darlington, who have asked for a GP referral for tests, diagnosis or treatment.
Nearly one in five (18%) of those people required four or more GP appointments to get a referral. Collectively, Healthwatch across the country have called on decision makers to do more to understand the referral process eg. collect national data, and to improve communication with patients.
Our blog, GP referrals: we need to address the ‘hidden’ waiting list, has been published: https://www.healthwatch.co.uk/blog/2023-04-05/gp-referrals-we-need-address-hidden-waiting-list.
We’ve now also published two briefings on GP referrals, with links in the blog, and our policy team has shared the findings with key stakeholders.
