A GP deciding where to refer a patient rarely spends long on it. More often, the person looking at your website is the receptionist or practice nurse, mid-afternoon, with a patient waiting and a referral letter half done. They want your secure messaging address, the right practitioner’s name and whether you’ve got a waiting list. If they can’t find those in a minute, the referral goes to whoever they can find.
Most allied health websites are written entirely for patients, which is right for most pages. But if GP referrals matter to your practice, one page written for referrers can make a real difference. It needs five things: how to send a referral, who to refer to, current waiting times, what you’ll send back, and the practical details a GP can pass on to the patient.
What referrers look for
In our experience building practice sites, the same five things come up:
- How to send a referral: secure messaging details, fax, email, and what you prefer
- Who to refer to: practitioners, their areas of interest and the days they work
- How long the wait is: honest, current, by practitioner or service
- What you’ll send back: reports, when, and in what format
- Practical patient information: fees, gap, location, parking and access, so the GP can tell the patient what to expect
None of that is complicated. It’s just usually missing, or spread across five pages.
Building the “For referrers” page
Put a “Referrers” or “For GPs” link in your main menu or header, not just the footer. Then structure the page like this.
Referral details at the top
Lead with the contact block, because that’s what most visitors want:
- Secure messaging: the provider your practice uses and your exact address or identifier
- Fax number, if you still accept faxes (many GP practices still use them)
- Email, with a clear note on whether it’s suitable for clinical information
- Phone number for referrer enquiries, and the hours it’s answered
- Practice address, and every location if you have more than one
If you have a preferred method, say so: “We prefer referrals by secure messaging. We can accept fax.”
Referral requirements
Spell out what you need in the referral: reason for referral, relevant history, medications, recent imaging or results, and any funding pathway the patient is using.
Medicare’s chronic condition arrangements changed on 1 July 2025. The GP Chronic Condition Management Plan replaced the old GP Management Plan and Team Care Arrangements, and allied health referrals under it are now made by referral letter, like specialist referrals. According to the Australian Physiotherapy Association’s summary, referrals no longer need to name a specific allied health provider, and existing GPMPs and TCAs can still be used until 30 June 2027. Check the Department of Health’s page on the changes for current detail, and update your page if anything changes.
Because referrals don’t have to name a provider any more, the patient can take a letter anywhere. That makes it more important that your practice is easy to find and easy to recommend.
Cover other pathways in a line each: DVA, WorkCover, CTP, NDIS, and any programs your practice runs with the local Primary Health Network.
Practitioner details
A short entry per practitioner, written for a clinical reader. Profession, qualifications, areas of particular interest, further training, the days and locations they work, and whether they’re currently taking new referrals. Include a provider number only if you’re comfortable publishing it. Many practices put it on letterhead and reports instead.
Keep the AHPRA rules in mind here too. This is still advertising, so no “specialist” claims without specialist registration, and no outcome statistics you can’t support. Writing for clinicians doesn’t change that.
Waiting times
This is the most useful and least often published information. Something like “Current wait for a new appointment: about one week for physiotherapy, three to four weeks for hydrotherapy” helps a GP decide on the spot. Put a date next to it and update it fortnightly. A wait time from last year is worse than none.
What you send back
Say what the referrer will receive: an initial assessment summary, progress updates, a discharge letter, and roughly when. If you send reports by secure messaging, say so. GPs value practices that close the loop, and stating it publicly signals that you do.
Downloadable referral forms
A referral template is handy, especially for services that need specific information. Offer it in two forms:
- A fillable PDF, branded and laid out cleanly, with fields for everything you need
- A template file that can be imported into GP clinical software, if you can get one set up, so the GP can generate the referral from within their system
The second takes more effort, but it fits how GPs actually work, so it’s more likely to be used. Ask a friendly local practice manager to test it before you publish.
Have the PDF designed properly. A blurry scan of a photocopied form tells referrers something about your practice, and it isn’t good. We design referral forms, letterhead and report templates as part of our print and graphic design work, so they match the website.
Make the page easy to share
Practices often send referrers a link after a meet-and-greet or a PHN education evening. Give the page a short, memorable address (yourpractice.com.au/referrers), and make sure it prints cleanly on one or two pages. Some practice staff will print it and pin it up.
One “Referrers” link in the header is enough. It doesn’t need to compete with the booking button.
Link your service pages
Each of your service pages can include a short “For referrers” note at the bottom: who to refer to for this service and any specific information you need. We cover writing those pages in writing service pages for health practitioners.
Put it to work
Write the contact block and waiting times first. That’s half an hour of work and covers most of what referrers need. Then ring two or three GP practices you work with and ask what they’d want on the page. They’ll tell you.
Once you have the content, adding the page to a well-built site takes very little time. On a site where it doesn’t, a practice website rebuild might be the better spend.