FORMAT
PARTS OF A LETTER
1. Initial
a) Recipient’s name and address
b) Date
c) Salutation
d) Name and age of the patient
2. Body
a) Introduction
b) Summary of chief complaints
c) Summary of additional information
d) Discharge/transfer/treatment plan and medications
e) Closing sentence
3. End
a) Sign off
b) Your job title
SAMPLE LETTER
1. Recipient’s name and address
Include the name and title of the recipient if it is given. The formal titles that can be used in OET letter writing are,
Mr
Ms (Miss or Mrs if it is mentioned)
Dr
Only skip the title if you are not sure about the person’s gender. If the name is not given , include the job title of your recipient.
Example:
District Nurse
or
The Emergency consultant
2. Date (Where to put in the date and in what format?)
The date of writing the letter can be placed either at the beginning of the letter or after the recipient’s name and address.
You can either use the full format (2nd October 2019) or just numbers with slashes (2/10/2019). Make sure if you are using slashes your date is in British format DD/MM/YYYY. It is also acceptable to use the full format at the beginning of the letter and the number with slashed inside the body of the letter.
3. The Salutation ( Greeting )
The formal salutations in letters start with the word ‘Dear’ followed by the title and surname of your recipient followed by a comma
Example
Dear Dr Smith,
or
Dear Ms Johnson,
or
Dear Alex Stone, (If you are confused with the gender of the recipient.)
or
Dear District Nurse (If there is no name given, use the job title)
4. Name and the age of the patient you are referring
A good practice is to write the full name and the age of the patient here. Preferably in one line followed by a comma.
It is also acceptable to use the date of birth of the patient.
Example:
Re: Miss Jacqueline Hill, aged 27 years
Re: Miss Jacqueline Hill, 10/2/1993
Body of Letter
Remember words are only counted from here.
Ideally, the first paragraph should state your purpose of writing the letter and the following paragraphs should elaborate on the information.
INTRODUCTION: The introduction of the letter should be short and must clearly state the purpose of the letter.
Letters can begin with,
Mr Smith is being discharged back to your care
or
Thank you for seeing Mr Daniel
or
I am writing to refer Mr Jones
SUMMARY OF CHIEF COMPLAINTS: Give a detailed summary of the chief complaint in this section of the letter. (This may be multiple paragraphs depending on the nature of the letter)
SECONDARY OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Add more relevant information about the patient you think your recipient should know. (Again, can be multiple paragraphs)
DISCHARGE/TREATMENT/TRANSFER PLAN AND MEDICATIONS: According to the type of letter (referral or discharge etc), this paragraph(s) should mention the plan from case notes.
CLOSING SENTENCE: This is an important part of a formal letter. Here, you are telling your recipient that you are willing to answer any questions they might have. This sentence gives a nice correspondence tone to your letter.
A common phrase is
If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.
The End
There are mainly two ways to formally sign off a letter
Yours sincerely,
or
Yours faithfully,
Follow this with your designation
Example
Yours sincerely,
Doctor.
