Clinic template
A Cliniko discharge summary template for physiotherapy
This discharge template has two parts: a clinical discharge note (outcome delta against the initial baseline, goals met, home programme) built as a Cliniko treatment note template, and a companion referrer letter built as a Cliniko letter template, with placeholders such as General.CurrentDate that pull the patient's details in automatically. Cliniko's help centre documents both features separately.
Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.
Free template ยท Cliniko
Treatment note: discharge summary: physiotherapy
The template: 19 fields
| Section | Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode of care | Presenting complaint at initial assessment | Text | One line, pulled from the initial note so the discharge record reads on its own. |
| Episode of care | Date of first and last treatment | Text | Cliniko's Date question type gives a picker if you want two separate Date fields instead. |
| Episode of care | Number of sessions attended | Text | |
| Episode of care | Referral source | Radio | Cliniko type: Multiple choice. Options: Self / GP (Medicare CDM) / DVA / Workers compensation / CTP / Specialist / Other. Match the initial note so a report writer can see funding at a glance. |
| Outcome at discharge | Outcome measure used | Text | Carried over from the initial and subsequent notes: PSFS, NPRS, Oswestry, NDI, QuickDASH, LEFS or other. |
| Outcome at discharge | Baseline score | Text | Copied from the initial assessment note. |
| Outcome at discharge | Discharge score | Text | The same measure, scored today. |
| Outcome at discharge | Outcome delta and interpretation | Paragraph | State the change in plain terms, for example an 8 point drop on the NPRS, not just the two numbers side by side. |
| Outcome at discharge | Pain now, best and worst (NPRS) | Text | |
| Goals and function | Goals set at initial assessment | Paragraph | Pulled from the initial note's patient goals field. |
| Goals and function | Goals met | Checkboxes | Options: Fully met / Partially met / Not met / Goals changed during care. Add a note below for anything other than fully met. |
| Goals and function | Goal outcome notes | Paragraph | |
| Goals and function | Residual limitations | Paragraph | What still isn't back to baseline, and whether that is expected to resolve on its own. |
| Reason for discharge | Reason for discharge | Radio | Options: Goals met / Plateaued, maximum benefit reached / Patient elected to stop / Non attendance / Referred elsewhere / Other. |
| Reason for discharge | Discharge discussion notes | Paragraph | What was explained to the patient about stopping, including when to come back. |
| Home and follow up | Home exercise programme at discharge | Paragraph | Exercises, sets and reps, or a note that a programme was sent through Cliniko. |
| Home and follow up | Self management advice | Paragraph | |
| Home and follow up | Review or re-referral trigger | Paragraph | What symptom or event should bring the patient back, and how (self book or GP referral). |
| Home and follow up | Letter to referrer sent | Checkboxes | Options: Not applicable, self referred / Letter drafted / Letter sent. Ticking Letter drafted or Letter sent is the cue to use the discharge letter template below. |
Build it in Cliniko
- Build the clinical note first: Settings > Treatment note templates > Add template, name it Physio discharge summary, add each section above and set every question's type from Cliniko's six types (Paragraph text, Single line text, Multiple choice, Checkboxes, Body chart, Date).
- Assign the treatment note template to your Discharge appointment type, or leave it unassigned and add it manually from the subsequent consult note when the discharge readiness field says Discharge.
- Build the referrer letter separately: Settings > Letter templates > add a new template, give it a name for internal reference and a default email subject.
- Write the letter body once, using Cliniko's placeholders (for example General.CurrentDate) anywhere you want the patient's details or the date to fill in automatically when the letter is generated from a patient's file.
- In the letter body, leave plain bracketed prompts for anything Cliniko cannot pull in on its own, for example [presenting complaint], [outcome measure and score change], [goals met], [home programme summary], so the practitioner copies those straight from the discharge note fields above.
- Cliniko says the template text can still be edited when the practitioner is writing the actual letter, so treat the placeholders as a starting draft, not a locked document, and review every letter before it goes out.
- Test both templates on a test patient: complete the discharge note, then write a letter from the same patient file and check every placeholder and bracketed prompt filled in as expected before printing or emailing it.
AHPRA: The shared Code of conduct expects records that let another practitioner continue care, which is exactly what a discharge summary and its referrer letter are for. It also expects records to support informed consent to the discharge decision itself, which is why this template has a separate field for what was explained to the patient about stopping.
Two documents, one episode of care
A discharge summary does two different jobs and most clinics try to make one form do both. The clinical note is for the patient file: it has to show the outcome delta against the initial baseline, whether the goals set on day one were met, and what the patient is taking home. The referrer letter is for someone outside the clinic, usually a GP, and it has to read as a short, self contained summary without the clinical shorthand a treatment note uses. Building these as two separate Cliniko templates, a treatment note template and a letter template, keeps each one doing its own job well instead of compromising on both.
Why the outcome delta gets its own fields
Baseline score, discharge score and outcome delta are split into three fields rather than one free text box because a delta that only exists as a sentence buried in a paragraph gets missed on a fast read, by a reviewer, an insurer, or the practitioner themselves six months later. Recording the two scores next to each other, then interpreting the change in plain language, gives a reader the number and what it means without having to do the subtraction. It also means the discharge note lines up with the outcome measure fields already used in the initial assessment and subsequent consult templates in this same cluster, so the three notes read as one story.
Letter placeholders are a draft, not a finished letter
Cliniko's letter templates pull certain details in automatically through placeholders, current date being the simplest example, but they cannot read the treatment note and summarise it for you. This template treats that gap honestly: the bracketed prompts in the letter body point back to specific fields in the discharge note (outcome delta, goals met, home programme) so the practitioner copies real content across rather than writing the letter from memory. Every letter still needs a human read before it is sent, both because Cliniko allows the template text to be edited at send time and because a discharge letter is the version of the record a referrer will actually read.
Sources
- Cliniko's letter templates are created under Settings > Letter templates and require a name, a body, and a default email subject; placeholders in the body 'pull' patient specific information into the letter automatically when it is generated from a patient's file, and the template text can still be edited at that point. Cliniko Help, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- Cliniko's help centre publishes a separate overview of writing and sending letters, distinct from treatment note templates, covering how a letter is drafted from a patient's file and sent from within Cliniko. Cliniko Help, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- Treatment note templates, the format used for the clinical discharge note itself, are built under Settings > Treatment note templates using Cliniko's six question types and can be assigned to a specific appointment type. Cliniko Help, checked 25 Sep 2026.
- The Physiotherapy Board of Australia applies the shared Code of conduct for registered health practitioners published by Ahpra and the National Boards, which asks for accurate records sufficient for another practitioner to continue a patient's care. Physiotherapy Board of Australia, checked 25 Sep 2026.