Prompt: Referral Letter to a Dietitian

Use this prompt to draft a referral letter to a community or hospital dietitian. Replace the items in {{double curly brackets}} with your own details.

Never paste real patient names, dates of birth, NHS numbers, or any other identifying information into an AI tool.

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The Prompt

Write a referral letter from an endocrinologist to a {{dietitian_service — e.g. "community dietitian service" or "hospital diabetes dietitian team"}} for a {{patient_age}}-year-old patient with {{condition}}.

The purpose of the referral is {{referral_purpose — e.g. "structured support with carbohydrate counting in the context of insulin therapy" or "dietary support for weight management and metabolic health"}}.

Key clinical context:
- {{context_point_1}}
- {{context_point_2}}

The patient has no {{contraindications_if_relevant — e.g. "known eating disorder" or "relevant allergies to note — leave blank if not applicable"}}.

Professional tone. Around 200 words. No specific drug names or doses. End with a clear request for dietary assessment and input.

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Why This Works

Dietitian referrals need enough clinical context for the dietitian to prioritise and plan, but they do not need full specialist detail. Naming the specific purpose of the referral — carbohydrate counting, weight management, renal diet — focuses the letter and helps the receiving clinician understand exactly what you are asking for.

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How to Tweak It

• Add "Please note the patient's main dietary pattern is {{dietary_background — e.g. 'South Asian vegetarian'}} — this is relevant to the dietary advice needed" when cultural or religious dietary context matters clinically.
• Change "Around 200 words" to "Around 150 words" if the service you refer to uses brief-letter format.

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Remember: AI is a helpful assistant, not a clinician. You make the call.