How do referral letters work?

Small Mercy drafts a referral letter from the consult and exports it as PDF/A after you review and confirm it. Like the note, the letter is built from only what was said — nothing is padded out with plausible filler to make it read better.

It won’t send a letter missing its reason

The letter is gated on completeness: Small Mercy checks the draft against RACGP-aware completeness gates (the gates are Australian — there is no UK or NZ equivalent set today), and it won’t send a letter missing its reason.

That gate is the useful part. If something a referral needs wasn’t actually spoken in the room, you find out before the letter leaves — not when the specialist’s rooms call back.

Your letterhead, your signature

Practice administrators can configure letterhead and signatures for a paid practice. Letters export as PDF/A — the archival PDF format — so what you attach or send is a self-contained document rather than a fragment of text.

Letter dictation is included, so a letter can be dictated by voice with the same RACGP-aware drafting behind it.

Nothing leaves until you confirm

The same discipline applies as to the note: nothing is finalised or exported until you confirm it. Small Mercy must never invent, suggest or infer a diagnosis, dose, management plan or other clinical fact absent from the source; required gaps stay [not stated]. It will not add a reason for referral, a finding, or a question for the specialist that wasn’t spoken. It is a documentation aid, not a diagnostic device, and the clinical content of the letter and its accuracy stay with you.

There’s more on how letters sit beside the note in the product walkthrough. Once a letter reads right, exporting it is the next step.