What’s in a Letter?

The Occupational English Test (OET) assesses the English communication skills of healthcare professionals. Luckily, the only OET Writing Task is a referral letter, which mirrors real-life medical communication between one medical professional (nurse, doctor, etc.) to another.

What is an OET Referral Letter?

A referral letter is a formal document written by a healthcare professional (doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, dentist, etc.) to another medical professional.
Its purpose is to refer a patient for further care, investigation, or management.
It is based on case notes provided in the exam, which must be transformed into a clear, accurate, and professional letter.

Key Features of OET Referral Letters

Purpose	Refers patient for further care or investigation
Audience	Another healthcare professional (GP, specialist, nurse, etc.)
Content	Patient’s medical history, current condition, reason for referral.
Tone	Formal, professional, clear.
Structure	Launching → Opening → Narration → Signing.

Types of letters in OET

Discharge: Your patient is going home. You need someone to visit the patient. (Example: Nurse).
Transfer: Your patient is not improving. Transfer the patient to another facility (Example: Specialist).
Informative: You are a school nurse. You are asked by the school management to write a letter to the parents of all the students about the spread of a virus. Very rare.

Assessment Criteria

Purpose: State the purpose of writing the letter.
Content Conciseness and Clarity: Include only relevant information. Remove any information that the recipient of the letter does not need.
Genre and Style: Formal, Factual Style.
Organization and Layout: Organize paragraphs professionally.
Language: Grammar, Vocabulary, Punctuation, Spelling.

Goal

The goal of asking you to write a letter is to check your ability to communicate medical information effectively in English, just as in real clinical practice.