Veterinary referral letter template and worked example

A veterinary referral letter is often the first thing a referral centre reads about your patient, and it is usually read before anyone there has spoken to the owner. When the letter states the question clearly and carries the history the receiving clinician needs, the case can be triaged on paper and the first consultation picks up where yours finished. When details are missing, someone at the centre has to ring your practice for them before the appointment can be planned.

What the receiving clinician needs first

The clinician reading your letter is working out what kind of appointment to book. That depends on what you are asking them to do, because "please assess and treat" and "please advise whether surgery is an option" lead to different appointments with different staff and different lengths. It also depends on how soon the animal needs to be seen, and whether it is stable enough to wait for the next routine slot.

They then need to know what has already been done. A clear record of tests and treatment so far stops the owner paying twice for the same work, and it tells the receiving team what the patient has been given before they plan anything of their own. A letter that answers these points in its opening lines lets the case be triaged before anyone picks up the phone.

What a complete referral letter contains

If the referral centre has its own referral form, use it and attach whatever it asks for. Whether you use a form or write a letter, the receiving clinician will be looking for the same information:

Referring practice and vet. The practice's name and full contact details, with the name of the referring vet and a direct phone number or email that reaches them during the working day.
Owner and patient. The owner's name and contact details, then the patient's name and signalment: species, breed, sex and neuter status, age or date of birth, and a recent weight with the date it was taken.
Reason for referral. One or two sentences stating the question you want answered and how urgently the patient should be seen.
Relevant history. The presenting complaint and how it has developed since it started, with any long-term conditions that bear on the case.
Examination findings. What you found at each examination, with dates, including normal findings that the receiving clinician would otherwise have to ask about.
Diagnostics. Every test performed, with its date, and the full results attached rather than summarised. Imaging should go in a format the centre can open.
Treatment and current medication. Each drug with its dose, route, frequency, start date and the time of the last dose, along with anything stopped recently and the reason it was stopped.
Response to treatment. How the patient responded to each treatment, including anything that made no difference.
What the owner has been told. The financial position you discussed, including insurance cover and how any claim will be handled, and what you said to the owner about likely outcomes.
Attachments. A list of everything enclosed, so the receiving practice can see straight away if something has not arrived.

The letter itself should stay focused on this referral. A full clinical history can travel as an attachment, with the letter picking out the parts that matter for the question you are asking.

Veterinary referral letter template

Copy the template below into your practice management system or word processor, and replace each line in italics with the details of the case.

Date: the date you send the letter
To: the referral centre and service, and the clinician if you know who will see the case
From: the referring vet and practice, with a direct phone number or email
Owner: the owner's name and contact details
Patient: name, species, breed, sex and neuter status, date of birth, weight and the date it was weighed
Insurance: insurer and policy number, or a note that the patient is not insured
Urgency: how soon the patient should be seen, with the reason
Reason for referral: the question you want answered, in one or two sentences
History: the presenting complaint and its course so far, with any long-term conditions that bear on it
Examination findings: your findings at each examination, with dates
Diagnostics: each test with its date and result, with full reports attached
Treatment and current medication: each drug with its dose, route, frequency, start date and the time of the last dose
Response to treatment: how the patient has responded so far
Discussed with the owner: the estimate or financial limit agreed, and what you have said about likely outcomes
Enclosed: a list of every attachment

Veterinary referral letter example

The letter below is an illustrative example written for an invented patient, and it contains no real patient or owner data. It shows how the sections read once they are filled in, and it is not clinical guidance for any real case.

Date: 4 November 2026

To: Cardiology service, referral centre

Dear colleague,

Please could you see Bramble, a seven-year-old neutered female Labrador retriever weighing 31.4 kg on 4 November 2026, for assessment of a heart murmur. Bramble is insured, and her owner would like the claim to be made direct. The insurer and policy number are in the enclosed client details.

Reason for referral. We heard a heart murmur at Bramble's annual vaccination appointment and would be grateful for your assessment of its cause, and your advice on whether she needs treatment or monitoring. She is bright and stable, so a routine appointment is appropriate.

History. Bramble has been registered with us since she was a puppy and has no long-term conditions. Her owner has not noticed any coughing or any change in how far she is happy to walk.

Examination findings. On 4 November 2026 she was bright and alert, and a murmur was heard on the left side of the chest. The rest of the clinical examination was unremarkable. Her previous examination, on 28 October 2025, recorded no murmur.

Diagnostics. No tests have been performed at this practice, as her owner preferred to go straight to referral for investigation.

Treatment and current medication. Bramble is not on any medication apart from routine parasite control, which is listed in the enclosed clinical history.

Discussed with the owner. Her owner understands that we cannot say what the murmur means without further investigation, and she has asked for an estimate at the first appointment.

Enclosed. Bramble's full clinical history since 2019 and her vaccination record.

Please contact me on the number above if you need anything further. I would be grateful for a copy of your report once you have seen her.

Yours sincerely,

The referring veterinary surgeon

Your professional duties when you refer

The RCVS sets out what it expects in the chapter on referrals and second opinions in its supporting guidance to the Code of Professional Conduct. Before a referral, the referring veterinary surgeon is responsible for making sure the client is aware of the level of expertise of the referral vets available, including whether they are on the RCVS Specialist list or the Advanced Practitioner list. The guidance says the referring vet should make the initial contact and ask the referral vet to arrange the appointment. It also says the referring vet should provide the case history with any relevant laboratory results and imaging, and supply promptly any further information the referral practice asks for. Both vets have a responsibility, in the RCVS's words, to ensure that the client has an understanding of the likely cost arising from the referral. Once the referral vet has seen the case, the guidance asks them to report back promptly to the primary vet, with transparency about who dealt with the case.

Sharing the owner's details with another practice

The same RCVS guidance covers the legal basis for passing the owner's details on. Where the referral has been discussed and agreed with the client, it says sharing the client's data is necessary for the ongoing treatment of the animal, so the legal basis for sharing the client's personal data with the referral vet would be that it is necessary for the performance of a contract. That is one of the lawful bases listed in Article 6 of the UK GDPR, covering processing that is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the person is party. Article 5 of the UK GDPR also requires personal data to be limited to what is necessary for the purposes it is processed for.

Gaps that hold a referral up

Most delays come from information that was in the practice all along but did not make it into the letter. A medication list without the time of the last dose leaves the receiving team unable to plan around what the patient has already had. A line saying results were normal, with no report attached, usually means the referral centre has to ask for the report before it can rely on it. A vague question such as "please see" gives the clinician no way to tell what you expect from the appointment, and a letter with nothing on the owner's financial position or insurance can hold up the first visit while that is sorted out.

A short check before you send the letter catches most of these:

The referral question is written in one or two sentences near the top.
Every drug the patient has had in recent weeks is listed with its dose and the time it was last given.
Full results and imaging are attached, as well as your summary of them.
The owner's financial position and insurance details are recorded.
The owner knows the referral is being made and expects to hear from the centre.
Your direct contact details are on the letter.

Many of these gaps start earlier, in the clinical record itself, which is the subject of our guide to common mistakes in vet record keeping.

Writing the letter from a structured record

A referral letter is much quicker to put together when the consultation is already written up in a structured form. Vetz listens during the consultation with the owner and drafts a structured clinical note in your practice's own templates, which the vet reviews and approves. With an active integration, the approved note is transferred straight to your practice management system, and Provet Cloud is one of the systems Vetz integrates with. When you come to refer, the history and examination findings are already written up in the record and can be copied into the letter instead of being typed again.

Vetz also helps you phrase findings and conclusions clearly and professionally, and you can ask it to rephrase or clarify any passage of the note before it goes into a letter. Several people can work in the same note at the same time, so a nurse can check the medication list while the vet finishes writing up the findings. You can read more about how this works on our page about AI note taking for vets, and the full list is on the Vetz features page. Practices that receive long histories from other clinics may also want to look at the AI vet records parser.

More about Vetz

If writing up consultations is what slows your referrals down, book a demo and we will show you how Vetz works with your own templates and your practice management system.