Allied Health Professionals Suffolk
AHP Suffolk CIC are a social enterprise and community enterprise company who delivery community services in Suffolk. Their aim and purpose as a social enterprise is to provide high quality, accessible health care at the point of need to help people return to optimal health. We work in partnership with our staff, patients and commissioners to develop a continually-improving range of services to meet their needs effectively and efficiently.
AHP Suffolk developed URefer over the last 12 years to help manage their own inbound referrals and now receive over 70% of their referrals directly from patients. This saves time and appointment in GP surgeries across Suffolk as well as improving the patient journey in the community services by reducing the number of appointments needed and shortening waiting times. AHP Suffolk offer access to MSK Physiotherapy and Pelvic Health Physiotherapy via URefer.
Started in April 2010
Reduced waiting times to < 4 weeks (from + 18 weeks)
91% of patients say U Refer is 'easy' or 'very easy' to use
C. £500k clinical costs saved annually
38% of patients did not visit their GP prior to seeking support
During Q3 2023/24:
• Processed 19455 self-referrals
•Saved 5856 GP appointments
• Equivalent to over £253,500
• 86.4% of patients found the site easy to use
• 33.09% of referrals didn't see their GP before
EDI
AHP Suffolk has undertaken an Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) assessment comparing access methods of self-referral and healthcare-led referrals to common EDI metrics. These demonstrate that online self-referral is used equitably in line with baseline measures in Suffolk and compared to healthcare-led referrals.
Referral Source by Age
Referral Source by sex
Referral Source by Deprivation