The One-Page Medical Referral Handover

Share the minimum information needed for safe implementation and useful feedback.

Medical letters are written for clinical communication, while community providers may need clear action, urgency, functional context and contact points.

Passing a whole record can be too much information for the receiving service and result in unnecessary information being exposed. If you send too little, workers are left to work it out.

Why this matters for medical professionals

The clinical decision-making process takes place in small time windows, and implementation takes place in the homes, transport systems, support rosters and normal routines. Some basic information about function and coordination can provide clues to the reasons why a suitable clinical plan is not working. The intent is not to move clinical responsibility onto others, but to make the 'pathway' and the 'feedback loop' clear.

What better coordination looks like

A concise handover can accompany the formal referral and outline the purpose, health considerations, practical support requested and the intended outcome (not the full clinical detail).

Lead with the request

Describe the support or assessment they are asking for and why this is needed at this time and what they hope to achieve.

Include only relevant context

Include diagnosis, risk, communication and functional information only where it affects the requested service.

Define feedback

Describe what the clinician should know, by when, and which changes should be reported earlier.

Make the change last

A useful change is specific enough to be practised and is small enough to be reviewed. Decide who is going to take the first action, where the decision will be documented and when the person will be asked if the decision resulted in an improvement. When multiple services are required, check each service individually and not presume that services which are agreed upon in a meeting are actually ready. Keep what is working, change what is not and eliminate temporary practices that no longer accomplish the desired purpose.

Questions for the next review

What would “lead with the request” look like from the person's perspective?

What is now fixed and what is now an assumption or pending request?

What is the person and team looking for to see if this is working?

Keep the boundary clear

Use secure channels, consent and professional privacy requirements. A one-page handover is not a substitute for prescriptions, formal clinical plans or required documentation.

A practical example

A long discharge summary was provided to a community provider without any lifting instructions or contact. A concise handover set out the interim restriction, the authorised plan and who is responsible for reviewing it.