OET Writing sample (nursing)

OET nursing discharge letter sample

Discharge letters are the most common task nurses meet in OET Writing practice. This page walks through one original practice task from start to finish: the case notes, a model letter, a line-by-line selection table and an honest look at a weaker letter, so you can see exactly where marks are won and lost.

The task: discharging Mr Menon to community nursing care

Mr Rajesh Menon, 68, has been treated on a medical ward for community-acquired pneumonia. His type 2 diabetes became unstable during the infection, he is less mobile than before, and he is going home to a wife who cannot help much with practical tasks. You are writing to the community nurse who will visit him. The notes below are condensed from the full practice task, which you can load into the free checker.

NURSING — WRITING TASK (practice, condensed)
Today's date: 09/09/2026
Patient: Mr Rajesh Menon, DOB 14/03/1958 (68 yrs)
Ward 6B, Riverside General Hospital. Admitted 02/09, discharged 09/09

Social background:
- Retired bus driver. Lives with wife (64, rheumatoid arthritis,
  limited hand function) in ground-floor flat
- Ex-smoker (stopped 2015). Occasional alcohol. Enjoys gardening

Medical history:
- Type 2 diabetes (dx 2016), metformin 1 g BD
- Hypertension, amlodipine 5 mg daily
- Cataract surgery R eye 2023

Progress:
02/09 Fever 38.9°C, productive cough, SOB, SpO2 89% on air.
      CXR: R lower lobe consolidation. Community-acquired pneumonia.
      IV amoxicillin, O2 2 L/min. BGLs 14–19 → insulin sliding scale
04/09 Afebrile. SpO2 95% on air
05/09 Oral amoxicillin 500 mg TDS. Insulin stopped, metformin restarted
06/09 BGLs 8–12. Unsure how to use new glucometer
07/09 Walking frame; SOB on stairs. Physio: stick outdoors
08/09 Anxious re coping at home; wife cannot help with glucometer

Discharge plan:
- Amoxicillin until 12/09
- BGL QID × 7 days, diary; target 6–10; if >15 twice → contact GP
- Community nurse: BGL diary & technique, chest, mobility, adherence
- GP review 1 week; repeat CXR 6 weeks
- Education given: worsening infection, hypoglycaemia

Writing task: write to Ms Claire Donovan, Community Nurse,
Northside Community Health Centre, 45 Elm Road, Northside.
Body approximately 180–200 words.

Step 1: decide what the reader must do

Before selecting any notes, ask one question: what will Ms Donovan actually do at Mr Menon's front door? She will check his glucose diary and meter technique, listen to his chest, watch him walk and check he is taking his tablets. Every sentence in your letter should help her do one of those four things, or warn her about something that could go wrong. That single decision drives your Purpose score and most of your Content score. The six OET Writing criteria explain why this matters so much.

Model letter

The letter below is an original model written for practice. It is about 195 words in the body, which sits comfortably inside the recommended range discussed in our word count guide.

Ms Claire Donovan
Community Nurse
Northside Community Health Centre
45 Elm Road
Northside

9 September 2026

Dear Ms Donovan,

Re: Mr Rajesh Menon, DOB 14/03/1958

I am writing to refer Mr Menon, who was discharged today following treatment for community-acquired pneumonia, for home visits to support his blood glucose monitoring and recovery.

Mr Menon has type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Following intravenous antibiotics, he is now taking oral amoxicillin 500 mg three times daily until 12 September. His blood glucose rose during the infection, briefly requiring insulin; metformin has now been restarted and readings have improved to 8–12 mmol/L.

He must test his glucose four times daily for seven days, recording the results, aiming for 6–10 mmol/L, and should contact his GP if two consecutive readings exceed 15 mmol/L. However, he is not yet confident using his new glucometer, and his wife cannot assist owing to arthritis in her hands. He is also anxious about managing at home.

He mobilises with a walking frame, has been advised to use a stick outdoors and remains breathless on stairs.

I would be grateful if you could review his glucometer technique and diary, chest symptoms, mobility and medication adherence. He has been taught the signs of worsening infection and hypoglycaemia. A GP review is due in one week, with a repeat chest X-ray in six weeks.

Yours sincerely,

Charge Nurse
Ward 6B, Riverside General Hospital

Why this letter works

• Purpose in the first sentence. The reader knows the patient, the reason for admission and the action requested before she reaches the second line.
• Grouped by what the reader needs. Background and treatment first, then the biggest risk (glucose monitoring with no help at home), then mobility, then a clear list of requests.
• Summarised, not copied. Five days of observations become two sentences. The reader does not need the exact day his fever settled, only that the infection is responding.
• Numbers that matter are kept exactly. The target range, the escalation threshold and the antibiotic end date are the details a community nurse would act on, so they are reproduced precisely.
• Professional register. Full sentences, no ward shorthand such as "SOB" or "QID", and a polite closing request.

What to include and what to leave out

There is often more than one acceptable selection. What assessors look for is whether your choices are appropriate for this reader and whether key information is accurate and not buried.

Analysis of the weaker sample letter

When you open this task in the checker, it preloads a candidate letter that looks reasonable at first glance. It is roughly the right length and mentions most of the discharge plan. Here is why it would still struggle to reach a high grade.

1. The purpose is vague

It opens with "I am writing about Mr Menon who was in our ward from 02/09 to 09/09." The reader learns where he was, not why she is receiving the letter. The actual request only appears in the final paragraph. Compare the model's first sentence, which names the diagnosis, the discharge and the requested home visits together.

2. Irrelevant background comes first

The second sentence tells the community nurse that he was a bus driver, likes gardening and stopped smoking in 2015, followed by cataract surgery. These details take up prime space at the start of the letter while the glucometer problem, the real safety issue, is pushed into the middle. This is a classic Content and Conciseness problem.

3. Note form and unexplained abbreviations

Phrases such as "fever 38.9, cough and SOB and SpO2 89%", "500mg TDS" and "blood sugar was 14-19" are copied almost directly from the notes. Units are missing, "SOB" and "TDS" are ward shorthand, and a string joined by repeated "and" reads like a list rather than a letter. This affects Genre & Style and Clarity.

4. Key instructions are incomplete

The letter says he should check his blood sugar four times a day, but it omits the target range (6–10 mmol/L), the diary purpose and the rule to contact the GP if two readings exceed 15 mmol/L. It also leaves out the education already provided. For a community nurse, those are exactly the details that make visits safe.

5. Small language slips add up

"He has type 2 diabetes since 2016" needs the present perfect ("has had"), and "physio recommend" needs agreement ("recommended"). Individually minor, these slips distract the reader when they appear alongside note form. See more patterns in common OET Writing mistakes.

6. Weak organisation and sign-off

Mobility, anxiety and the glucometer problem are mixed in one paragraph, and the sign-off gives a role but no ward context in a clear block. The model separates topics so the reader can scan each one quickly.

How to practise with this task

1. Read the full case notes for five minutes only, then write your own letter in 40 minutes without looking at the model.
2. Compare your selection with the table above. Mark anything you included that the table omits, and ask whether it changes what the nurse will do.
3. Paste your letter into the checker to get estimated scores on all six criteria with quoted evidence.
4. Rewrite only your weakest paragraph, then check again to see whether the estimate moves.