Purpose
The purpose is stated in the first paragraph: continued care at home, with the two needs (dressing changes and diabetes support) named straight away. The reader knows within two sentences why the letter exists and what will be asked.
OET Nursing Writing
OET Writing Sample for Nurses: Discharge Letter
This OET writing sample for nurses gives you a complete practice task: realistic discharge case notes, the writing instructions, a model letter to a district nurse and a criterion-by-criterion explanation of why it works. Write your own letter first, then compare.
45 min5 minutes reading plus 40 minutes writing
180–200Words in the body of the letter
6Writing criteria the examiner uses
What is the OET Writing task for nurses?
OET Writing gives you 5 minutes to read the case notes and 40 minutes to write one letter, with a body of about 180–200 words. For nurses, the letter is usually a discharge, transfer or referral letter to the health professional who will continue the patient's care. This page gives you a full practice task, a model answer and an explanation of every selection decision.
Reading time: 5 minutes
You read the case notes and the task before the writing time starts. Use it to decide who the reader is and what they must do next.
Writing time: 40 minutes
You write one letter. A useful split is 5 minutes planning, 30 minutes writing and 5 minutes checking purpose, dates and doses.
How to use this sample
Read the case notes, write your own letter under time and only then compare it with the model answer. Copying the model teaches far less than finding your own selection mistakes.
What the examiner checks
Six criteria: Purpose, Content, Conciseness & Clarity, Genre & Style, Organisation & Layout, and Language.
Case notes: discharge of Mrs Joan Whitfield
These case notes describe a fictional patient and were written for practice. Read them for five minutes and decide what the district nurse needs before you look at the task.
Patient details
- Name: Mrs Joan Whitfield
- DOB: 14/03/1952 (74 y.o.)
- Address: 27 Elm Grove, Westbridge
- Admitted: 12/10/2026; discharge: 19/10/2026
- Ward 6, Westbridge General Hospital
- Diagnosis: cellulitis L lower leg; venous leg ulcer (2 cm) L medial ankle
Social background
- Widowed, lives alone in ground-floor flat
- Daughter lives 20 mins away, visits twice weekly; aware of discharge
- Retired teacher; enjoys gardening (scratched leg while gardening 2/52 before admission)
- Non-smoker; occasional glass of wine
Medical history
- T2DM (2015): metformin 500 mg BD
- Hypertension (2018): amlodipine 5 mg OD
- Osteoarthritis both knees
- Appendicectomy (1980)
- NKDA
Nursing notes
- 12/10: admitted via ED, L lower leg red, hot, swollen; temp 38.4°C; BGL 14.2 mmol/L; IV antibiotics commenced
- 14/10: temp within normal limits; redness reducing; pain 3/10 (from 6/10) with regular paracetamol
- 15/10: changed to oral flucloxacillin
- 16/10: tissue viability nurse review: ulcer cleaned, non-adherent dressing applied; change every 2 days
- 17/10: BGL 6–9 mmol/L; diabetes nurse: pt understands self-monitoring but occasionally forgets evening metformin
- 18/10: mobilising with walking frame; physio: mild unsteadiness, falls risk
- Pt anxious about managing dressing alone; keen to go home
Discharge plan
- Flucloxacillin 500 mg PO QID until 24/10
- Continue metformin 500 mg BD, amlodipine 5 mg OD
- Paracetamol 1 g PO QID PRN for pain
- District nurse: dressing change every 2 days; monitor ulcer and signs of infection; check BGL diary; reinforce medication adherence
- Walking frame supplied; OT home assessment 22/10
- GP review in 1/52
Writing task
You are the charge nurse on Ward 6, Westbridge General Hospital. Mrs Whitfield is being discharged home today. Using the information in the case notes, write a letter to Ms Sarah Patel, District Nurse, Westbridge Community Nursing Team, 4 Mill Lane, Westbridge, who will continue Mrs Whitfield's care at home.
- Expand the relevant notes into complete sentences.
- Do not use note form.
- Use letter format.
- The body of the letter should be approximately 180–200 words.
Practice material written by OET with Dr Hesham. It is not an official OET test task.
Model answer: discharge letter to the district nurse
Compare this model with your own letter. There is more than one way to score highly, but strong answers make the same selection decisions.
Ms Sarah Patel
District Nurse
Westbridge Community Nursing Team
4 Mill Lane
Westbridge
19 October 2026
Dear Ms Patel,
Re: Mrs Joan Whitfield, DOB 14/03/1952
I am writing to request your continued care of Mrs Whitfield, aged 74, who is being discharged home today after treatment for cellulitis of her left lower leg. She will need regular dressing changes for a small leg ulcer and support with her diabetes management.
Mrs Whitfield was admitted on 12 October with a red, swollen left leg and a fever. Her condition improved with intravenous antibiotics, and she is now taking oral flucloxacillin 500 mg four times daily until 24 October. A 2 cm venous ulcer on her left medial ankle has been cleaned and covered with a non-adherent dressing.
Could you please change this dressing every two days and monitor for signs of recurrent infection, such as spreading redness or fever? In addition, she has type 2 diabetes and occasionally forgets her evening metformin, so I would be grateful if you could review her glucose diary and encourage adherence.
Please note that she lives alone, mobilises with a walking frame and is at risk of falls. An occupational therapy home assessment is booked for 22 October. She is anxious about managing her dressing, so reassurance would be appreciated.
Please contact me if you require further information.
Yours sincerely,
Charge Nurse
Ward 6, Westbridge General Hospital
Practice material written by OET with Dr Hesham. It is not an official OET test task. The body of this model answer is 198 words.
Why this letter works
The model is mapped to the six criteria examiners use. Selection is the skill behind most of them, so the lists below show which case notes were kept and which were left out.
Content
Every included note changes what the district nurse does: the antibiotic end date, the ulcer and dressing plan, the missed evening metformin, the falls risk and the occupational therapy visit. Background that does not affect home care, such as the old appendicectomy, is left out.
Conciseness & Clarity
The hospital stay is summarised in two sentences instead of a day-by-day diary. Daily temperatures and pain scores were useful on the ward but do not help the reader, so they become “improved with intravenous antibiotics”.
Genre & Style
The tone is professional and polite, written nurse to nurse. Requests use “Could you please” and “I would be grateful if”, and note-form abbreviations such as BGL, QID and BD are written out in full.
Organisation & Layout
Purpose first, then a brief admission summary, then the actions requested, then social and safety information. Each paragraph has one job, and the recipient's details, date and Re: line follow standard letter layout.
Language
Short, accurate sentences with controlled tenses: past for the admission, present for her current condition and future for the plan. Medicine names and doses are copied exactly from the notes.
Included because the reader needs it
- Diagnosis and the reason for discharge
- Antibiotic, dose and end date (24 October)
- Ulcer size, site and dressing frequency
- Missed evening metformin and the glucose diary
- Lives alone, walking frame and falls risk
- Occupational therapy home assessment on 22 October
- Her anxiety about managing the dressing
Left out because it does not change the next step
- Retired teacher and the gardening history
- Appendicectomy (1980) and knee osteoarthritis
- Daily temperatures, pain scores and the admission glucose of 14.2 mmol/L
- Wine intake and non-smoking status
- Unchanged regular medicines and paracetamol as required
- Daughter's visits (a short mention is acceptable if you have words left)
Common mistakes in OET discharge letters
These errors cost marks in discharge letters again and again, and each one is easy to fix once you can see it.
- Starting with the patient's life story instead of the reason for writing.
- Copying the day-by-day ward notes in date order.
- Listing every regular medicine, including unchanged ones, without saying what the nurse should do.
- Forgetting the antibiotic end date or the dressing frequency, the two details the district nurse acts on first.
- Writing requests as statements, such as “The dressing will be changed”, so the reader is unsure who is responsible.
- Using note-form abbreviations such as BD, QID or BGL in the letter.
- Going well beyond 200 words because irrelevant social details were included.
For the method behind these decisions, read the OET Writing tips, see how the OET course for nurses trains letter selection, or try the OET writing sample for doctors. Results from candidates who prepared with this method are on the success stories page.
Write your own version and get it marked
Write your own letter for this task in 40 minutes, then send it for OET writing correction. Each corrected letter comes back with an estimated score, detailed correction and voice-note feedback on WhatsApp. If you are not sure your English is ready for OET yet, start with the free placement test.
OET nursing writing sample FAQ
More exam questions are answered on the full OET FAQ page.
How long should an OET nursing letter be?
The body of the letter should be about 180–200 words. Writing a little more or less is not penalised on its own, but long letters usually include irrelevant case notes, which costs marks for content and conciseness.
Who do nurses write to in OET Writing?
Usually another health professional who will continue the patient's care, such as a district or community nurse, a GP, a care home nurse or a rehabilitation team. Sometimes the reader is a carer or family member, which changes the tone and the amount of medical language.
Should I include every medication in a discharge letter?
No. Include new medicines, changed doses and anything the reader must give, monitor or stop. Long-standing medicines that have not changed can usually be left out or mentioned briefly if they matter to the care plan.
Can I get my OET nursing letter marked?
Yes. Write your own version of this task under timed conditions, then send it for OET writing correction. You receive an estimated score, detailed correction and voice-note feedback on WhatsApp.
Next step
Find out what your discharge letter would score
Write this task under time, send it for correction and get an estimated score with voice-note feedback on exactly what to change.