Referral Letter Writing Guide for OET Candidates

A referral letter is typically addressed to a new medical professional with a request for specific care/investigations/management.

Given below is the preparation of a sample referral letter (medicine) based on Official OET case notes. It is written by a doctor and addressed to another doctor. It’s an excellent scenario where writing sub-test case notes selection is tricky and identification of diagnosis/chief complaint requires careful reading. Note, in the sample letter, the writer has covered only the relevant OET case notes while summarising as much as possible. Use of conjunctions and transitions is also quite effective throughout.

Follow the 40 tips given in the sample, and you will find that securing A or B for OET writing sub-test is much easier than thought.

Table of Contents

1. OET Case Notes for Referral Letter
2. Date, Recipient’s Address, Greeting and Re: Line
3. Introduction – Patient, Medical Issue & the Purpose
4. Body Paragraph 1 – Presenting Complaints
5. Body Paragraph 2 – Past Medical/Social/Family History
6. Body Paragraph 3 – Advice Given
7. Conclusion – Expected care/action by the reader
8. Closing Sentence – Not Included in Word Count
9. Complimentary Close – Yours…
10. Mock Test – Test Your Writing Skills
11. Final Sample Letter
12. Quiz – Check Your Knowledge

Additionally, this medicine sample referral letter scores high points on ability to write information in brief and covering more information per sentence. Length of this referral letter is also within 180-200 words range. The writer here has taken good care of articles, capitalisation (of medication), verb tenses and word choice. Above all, paragraphing in the OET referral letter is logical and there is good coherence throughout.

For writing sub-test, our teachers at Benchmark can help you write such OET letter samples for nursing, medicine, physiotherapy, pharmacy etc. All you have to do is join our OET Writing Correction service, and we will correct all your mistakes in the referral/transfer/discharge letters and give you the most accurate tips for writing sub-test. This way you can find the most accurate answers for your OET letter.

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More Writing Guides for

• Referral OET Letter
• Discharge OET Letter
• Urgent OET Letter
• Updating a Medical Professional
• Transfer OET Letter
• Pharmacy OET Letter

Refferal letter

(Secondary – History, English) Divorced, 2 children at home (born 2002, 2004) Non-smoker (since children born) Social drinker – mainly spirits

Mother-hypertension; asthmatic; Father-peptic ulcer Maternal grandmother-died heart attack, aged 80 Maternal grandfather-died asthma attack Paternal grandmother-unknown Paternal grandfather-died ‘old age’ 94

Childhood asthma; chickenpox; measles 1983 tonsillectomy 1990 hepatitis A (whole family infected) 1992 sebaceous cyst removed 1995 whiplash injury 2006 depression (separation from husband); SSRI – fluoxetine 11 mths 2008 overweight – sought weight reduction 2010 URTI (Upper Respiratory Tract Infection) 2012 dyspepsia 2014 dermatitis; prescribed oral & topical corticosteroids

Presenting complaint: dysphagia (solids), onset 2 weeks ago post-viral (?)
URTI URTI self-medicated with OTC (over-the-counter)
Chinese herbal product - contents unknown No relapse/remittent course No sensation of lump No obvious anxiety Concomitant epigastric pain radiating to back, level T12 Weight loss: 1-2kg Recent increase in coffee consumption Takes aspirin occasionally (2-3 times/month); no other NSAIDs Provisional diagnosis: gastro-oesophageal reflux +/- stricture

Refer gastroenterologist for opinion and endoscopy if required 🡣coffee/alcohol intake Cease OTC product Pantoprazole 40mg daily

Using the information in the case notes, write a letter of referral for further investigation and definitive diagnosis to the gastroenterologist, Dr Jason Roberts, at Newtown Hospital, 111 High Street, Newtown.

Let us structure the first part of the sample referral letter and see what information should be included there.

Full name of the recipient with title
Designation/Job title
Address

Greeting (Dear ……. ) (Second name of the recipient with appropriate title)

Reference line (Re: the patient’s full name & DOB)

Tip 1: ’20 January 2022’ is the preferred date format at the start.

Tip 2: dd/mm/yyyy is the preferred date format in in the reference line and paragraphs. (Avoid switching date formats in the reference line and paragraphs.)

Tip 3: Interchanging the order of Date & Recipient’s Details is acceptable.

Tip 4: Interchanging the order of Greeting & Reference Line is acceptable.

Tip 5: If date of birth (DOB) is given, write that in the reference line. If age is also given, mention that in introduction.

Tip 6: If the recipient is not a doctor (Dr.), use appropriate title or job profile name (Dear Nurse, etc.)

Tip 7: Watch the spelling. If you are using British/American spelling, be consistent in the letter. Avoid mixing the styles.

Dr Jason Roberts
Gastroenterologist
Newtown Hospital
11 1 High Street
Newtown
Dear Dr Roberts

Now, let us take a stepwise approach to composing each paragraph.

Writing ‘introduction’ of a referral OET letter is similar to other types of letters such as a transfer or a discharge letter. It covers the full name of the patient, introduces the medical complaint and generally discusses the reason(s) for writing the letter.

Tip 8: Keep in mind that excluding the purpose would affect your score negatively.

Tip 9: Read the ‘Note’ & ‘Writing Task’ given at the start and end of the case notes respectively to identify the purpose.

Tip 10: You may use the key word ‘refer’ to indicate the purpose as you are introducing the patient to another healthcare professional for the first time.

Tip 11: Keep the introduction succinct to make the purpose immediately apparent to the reader.

TIP 12: Avoid secondary information/details that may obscure the objective of introduction.

Tip 13: Avoid using ‘a/the/this/my patient’ to refer to the patient in the letter as it is considered less polite.

Tip 14: Write full name with title at the first occurrence in the introduction as the patient is an adult.

Tip 15: In introduction, the purpose should be general information related to expected care/action. A specific & detailed plan should be included in conclusion.

Tip 16: Avoid using note/short forms; it is informal. For example, +/-

Introduce the patient. Refer NOTES and PATIENT DETAILS

… 45-year-old female patient

Anne Hall (Ms), DOB 19 Sep 1972

Social History: Teacher (Job can be included as it may be causing stress, but subjects taught are irrelevant)

Medical Complaint: Refer Provisional Diagnosis

Provisional diagnosis: gastro-oesophageal reflux +/- stricture

Reason for writing the letter: Refer Writing Task.

… for further investigation and definitive diagnosis

The introduction of your OET letter is now

Tip 17: Relevant information. Select what the reader (a gastroenterologist) should keep in mind while the patient is in his care.

(Possible) background of the complaint(s)

Examination Findings/Further Discussion

Addition Relevant Information Given by the Patient

Tip 18: Use second name with appropriate title when referring to the (adult) patient initially in a paragraph.

Tip 19: Avoid using pronouns to refer to the patient at the first occurrence in a paragraph.

Tip 20: Avoid using brackets; it is informal. Rephrase without them.

Tip 21: Avoid capitalizing generic drug name(s).

Let’s compile relevant information and compose the body paragraph 1 as follows.

Tip 23: Sequence relevant information based on importance.

Tip 24: Irrelevant information/details: Any information not related to the chief complaint of the patient and not useful to the reader, a gastroenterologist, to initiate the expected care/action should be ignored. Otherwise, it may confuse the reader, and even be counter-productive as it may increase the length of your letter.

Previous Medical History

Childhood asthma; chickenpox; measles
1983 tonsillectomy
1990 hepatitis A (whole family infected) 1992 sebaceous cyst removed
1995 whiplash injury
2006 depression (separation from husband); SSRI – fluoxetine 11 mths
2008 overweight – sought weight reduction
2010 URTI (Upper Respiratory Tract Infection)
2012 dyspepsia
2014 dermatitis; prescribed oral & topical corticosteroids

Social History

Divorced, 2 children at home (born 2002, 2004)
Non-smoker (since children born)
Social drinker – mainly spirits

Allergies: Codeine ; dust mites; sulphur dioxide

Family History:

Mother – hypertension; asthmatic; Father – peptic ulcer
Maternal grandmother – died heart attack, aged 80
Maternal grandfather – died asthma attack
Paternal grandmother – unknown
Paternal grandfather – died ‘old age’ 94

Tip 25: Use second name with appropriate title when referring to the (adult) patient initially in a paragraph. Avoid using pronouns to refer to the patient at the first occurrence in a paragraph.

Let’s compile relevant information and compose the body paragraph 2 as follows.

Tip 26: Advice given to the patient to be considered.

Tip 27: Avoid including ‘Refer gastroenterologist for opinion and endoscopy…’ as the letter is written to the gastroenterologist.

Plan: Refer gastroenterologist for opinion and endoscopy if required

Cease OTC product

Pantoprazole 40mg daily

Tip 28: Avoid using note/short forms; it is informal. For example, /, ↓.

Tip 29: Shift the focus from the writer (I/we) as much as possible to maintain formal style. For example, avoid using ‘I advised …’.

Tip 30: Avoid capitalizing generic drug name(s).

This paragraph can be written as below.

Refer ‘Plan’.

Plan: Refer gastroenterologist for opinion and endoscopy if required

Cease OTC product

Pantoprazole 40mg daily

Tip 31: Give an introductory phrase to link the conclusion to the above-mentioned information.

Tip 32: Ensure no information related to expected care/action is excluded.

Tip 33: Note that only the information related to further care is selected from the earlier parts of case notes (see the underlined information).

Tip 34: Make sure the tone used is polite and formal.

Therefore, the letter can be concluded as below.

Tip 36: A typical polite closing sentence can be written as the addressee can get back to the writer if he needs more information about the patient.

Tip 37: It should be polite and should not include informal words and phrases.

Yours sincerely (If the name of the recipient is given.)

Yours faithfully (If the name of the recipient is NOT given.)

Tip 39: Write the name of the profession/designation indicated in the case notes. You may give the name of the hospital or organization if given (optional).

Tip 40: Leave a single blank space between all sections.

In this case, the name of the reader is given.