We tend to wait at least a few hours before making any decision on who to assign a referral to, so there should not be any pressure to always respond to everything right away.
But equally, the faster we can provide a family with a therapist the better, so we also do not want to wait any longer than necessary.
If multiple therapists are interested in a referral, primarily we assign based on who is the best clinical fit the referral.
In a scenario where all therapists are equally experienced and capable, then we will look at who best fits the customers preferences around things like budget and who can see them soonest.
If there is no difference there either, then we will make subjective decisions based on trying to be fair to everyone.
The one caveat to this is that we will try to get new therapists their first referral as soon as possible, so with all else being equal, we will sometimes give them priority where it would be their first job.
We do also take into consideration each therapists historic performance and reliability.
We don't currently have a system in place to inform every therapist individually when they have not been assigned a referral, but all referrals are updated with a main "assigned reason" once assigned.