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NHS e-Referral Service (e-RS)

Population Size

3,708,575

People

Population Size statistic card

Years

2013

Years statistic card

Associated BioSamples

None/not available

Associated BioSamples statistic card

Geographic coverage

North West England: https://www.geonames.org/2641227/north-west.html

Geographic coverage statistic card

Lead time

2-6 months

Lead time statistic card

Summary

The NHS e-Referral Service provides an easy way for patients to choose their first hospital or clinic appointment with a specialist. Bookings can be made by the patient online, using the telephone, or directly in the GP surgery at the time of referral. Under the NHS Standard Contract, all GPs in England use e-RS to make referrals to consultant-led outpatient services.

The data do not include those patients that have had a referral, booking or attempted booking outside of e-RS.

Documentation

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/e-referrals/

Dataset type

Health and disease

Dataset population size

3708575

Keywords

Observations

Observed Node

Disambiguating Description

Measured Value

Measured Property

Observation Date

Persons

Total number of distinct individuals in the dataset

43060772

Count

09 Jun 2025

Findings

Highest number of referrals from Patient residing in LA: Wirral (latest 12 months)

338395

Count

11 Jun 2025

Provenance

Source of data extraction

EPR

Collection source setting

Primary care - Referrals, Secondary care - Outpatients

Patient pathway description

patients are referred electronically by their GP to a specialist service, where they can choose and book an appointment, and are then contacted with details once the referral is reviewed and accepted by the provider.

Biological sample availability

None/not available

Structural Metadata

Details

Publishing frequency

Daily

Version

1.0.0

Modified

08/12/2025

Coverage

Start date

10/06/2013

Time lag

Less than 1 week

Geographic coverage

North West England: https://www.geonames.org/2641227/north-west.html

Maximum age range

99

Accessibility

Language

en

Alignment with standardised data models

NHS DATA DICTIONARY

Controlled vocabulary

LOCAL

Format

text/csv, application/sql

Data Access Request

Access rights

https://northwestsde.nhs.uk/for-sde-users/apply-to-use-the-sde

Time to dataset access

2-6 months

Access method category

TRE/SDE

Access service description

A secure workspace within the SDE will be implemented for each project. The standard package for a secure workspace includes a cloud-based VDI providing access to an instance of the platform and as suite of included tools. Further details be provided on request.

Jurisdiction

UK

Data use limitation

Research use only

Data use requirements

User-specific restriction

Data Controller

North West Secure Data Environment (SDE)

Data Processor

Arden and GEM Commissioning Support Unit

Demographics

Dataset Types: Health and disease

Collection Sources: Primary care - Referrals, Secondary care - Outpatients