Internationally trained paramedics need Grade B across all four OET sub-tests to register with the HCPC in the UK or the Paramedicine Board of Australia. The Writing sub-test asks you to do something you already do every shift, hand a patient over, but in 250 words of prose a non-specialist can act on.
Quick answer
Internationally trained paramedics need Grade B (350) in each of the four OET sub-tests for HCPC (UK, registered as Paramedic) and the Paramedicine Board of Australia (AHPRA). The Writing sub-test is a single letter, usually a referral or handover after a pre-hospital assessment. Most marks are lost on Genre & Style: scene codes and drug shorthand left in for a reader who was never on scene.
Always confirm the current requirement on the regulator's own site before you book. Requirements and validity windows change.
Sent to an emergency department clinician or a GP, setting out your pre-hospital assessment and the reason for transfer or follow-up. The reader was not on scene, so the letter has to rebuild the picture for them.
Marking watch-out: Genre & Style. Expand scene codes, mechanism abbreviations, and drug shorthand for a reader who needs the meaning, not the jargon.
Moving a patient between services for ongoing care. The addressee is often another clinician who needs your observations and interventions in a usable order.
Marking watch-out: Organisation & Layout. Lead with the outcome, then sequence observations and interventions so the reader can act after one read.
Stop using scene codes, mechanism abbreviations, and drug shorthand without context for a hospital reader. Expand each one on first use. Mapped criterion: Genre & Style.
Stop transcribing the whole scene timeline. Choose the observations and interventions that affect what the addressee does next. Mapped criterion: Conciseness & Clarity.
Stop opening with scene chronology. State who the patient is and what you need from the reader in the first sentence. Mapped criterion: Purpose.
The UK HCPC (where the profession is registered as Paramedic), the Paramedicine Board of Australia through AHPRA, and the New Zealand Paramedic Council all accept OET. Grade B (350) is required in each of the four sub-tests. Sub-tests taken across two sittings within the validity window are accepted.
Usually a referral or handover letter following a pre-hospital assessment, sent to an emergency department clinician or a GP. Case notes commonly include the mechanism of injury or presenting complaint, observations, ECG or assessment findings, and the interventions given on scene.
Two patterns recur. First, pre-hospital shorthand and drug abbreviations used without context for a non-specialist reader, which costs Genre & Style. Second, reproducing the whole scene timeline instead of selecting what the reader needs to act, which costs Conciseness & Clarity.
Yes. Pre-hospital assessment, scene documentation, and handover conventions differ from the generic medical case notes in most practice materials. Correction from someone who knows the paramedic letter genre catches the errors that actually cost the grade.
Our OET writing correction service marks your letter against the six criteria, with feedback from a corrector who knows pre-hospital handover and referral conventions. 24-hour turnaround.
Get My Letter Corrected