Give professional referrers a useful service information sheet

What this means for your practice

Create a maintained professional information sheet focused on scope, referral process and practical contacts. Use an approved channel for any individual referral details.

What to discuss with your agency

Ask a colleague to identify the referral process using only the proposed document. Check every contact and destination with the provider. Keep individual referral details out of informal marketing routes. The sheet should remain understandable when downloaded or printed, including how to find current information later.

Put the brief into practice

Keep the referral sheet focused on what a professional needs to identify the relevant service and use its approved route. Verify scope, locations and administrative contacts with the provider, and make any important limits clear. Avoid turning the sheet into a compressed brochure with promotional claims taking space from practical information. Give it a date, an owner and a maintained destination where a reader can check for the current version. Ask a colleague to use it without the accompanying email or internal context.

Can they find the correct next step and understand which information should travel through the approved referral process? Check links in the digital version and whether printed copies still provide a useful route. When the service changes, include the sheet in the same update process as the website. Review clarification requests from referrers to identify missing administrative detail, while keeping individual clinical decisions and advice with the appropriate professionals.

How to check the result

Measure referral clarification requests caused by missing or outdated administrative information.